Boys Will Be Boys
by CainyG88
Summary: Once the worlds greatest villain, Victor "Vector" Perkins is now a failure in the eyes of his father and the media. He wants to outdo Gru and prove himself again, but how? A potential rival and three young orphans may be the answer he is looking for.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: This fanfiction has been written for non profit purposes. I do not own any of the characters contained within this story, all characters and locations are owned by Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment. **

**Prologue**

**Boy's Will Be Boys**

"Oh poop…"

A grey barren expanse lay at the feet of a man who stood in the middle of nowhere, alone and isolated. The horizon curved ahead of him into nothingness. The only thing he could see other than grey sand and rocks was a blue orb in the distance.

He wore an orange jumpsuit and a strange bubble of plastic surrounded his head. The sky was pitch black, yet it was bright enough to be daytime. He slumped onto the floor and leant his back against a boulder, and the plastic bubble around his head flapped around quietly, before settling completely still.

"Wonder if I will get any reception up here." The man joked, despite his predicament. His mobile phone showed no signal, but he pressed the call button anyway. The phone was a technological marvel by current civilian standards, but no mere Average Joe could own one. The device was of his own design, and created and built with more money than you or I could ever dream of. He didn't put it to his ear though, what would be the point, where he was? He wouldn't hear anything from the ear speaker. He smiled at himself for remembering his hands free kit that day.

The phone began to ring out, and he waited patiently for an answer. There was a click, and a heavy breathing sounded with distorted crackling on the other end.

"Yes?" the man on the other line asked. He sounded annoyed.

"Hey… dad." The man in the orange jumpsuit hesitated. "I-"

"Have you seen the TV lately?" the heavy rasped voice cut him off.

"No…" the man in the orange jumpsuit said dimly. "Not where I'm at, anyway."

"I see." There was a pause on the other line. "Gru defeated you."

The man in the orange jumpsuit slumped further still with a silent groan, until he was practically lying down on the ground. Only his head touched the rock now, and it made his neck ache.

"Yeah… he did. I'm sorry." The man in the jumpsuit sighed. His voice was nasally and high pitched, and coupled with the weary dread that began to rise in his stomach, he sounded like the man with the worst luck ever.

"Sorry?" the deep voice mocked from the other end. He scoffed. "Well, we will see how sorry you are when you get home."

"Yeah…" he replied dismally. "We will."

"I've sent up a rocket to collect you." It won't take long, thank yourself lucky I have enough money in the bank to build those high speed engines you designed."

The man in the orange jumpsuit placed his finger over the end call button, and was about to press before his father on the other line began to speak again, which stopped him.

"One thing, Victor," The wheezing and deep voiced man said coolly, "when you get back, I hope you have a good explanation and a good plan to get yourself back on top."

The conversation ended with a harsh click and a monotonous dial tone. Victor looked at his watch, which was a beautiful piece of design. It was crystal white and a large orange V covered the clock face, and each arm ended with the same shaped V as the clock face wore. Although it was made out of what looked like plastic, no mould lines or gaps interrupted its beautifully crisp surface. Even the wrist strap was made out of the same material, and looked as though it was part of the watch as a whole.

The time was about 5.30pm.

"Heh… wonder what time it would be on the moon." Victor chuckled to himself. "Still… at least I can have some peace before dad starts his tirade."

In the distance, Victor spotted an orange dot coming from the blue orb in the sky he called home. It grew larger, and he began to feel the ground vibrate as it drew closer. It was the rocket his father mentioned.

"That _was _fast." Victor mumbled to himself.

Eventually the craft creating the fiery orange orb came into view. It was a similar work of art as his watch. It was a perfectly flat object, and it looked like a commercial airliner, except it was gull winged, the angles of the gull wing matched the shape of the V on his watch. The beauty of it completely dominated the ship, and you'd be fooled into thinking designed with form over function in mind.

Victor sighed and walked towards the crater it had landed in, off in the distance. He guessed it was about a 10 minute walk from him. How typical of his father, forcing him to walk in bitter defeat to the craft that would save his life for letting him down. His father was always quick to rub in defeat, but rarely offered his praise. That thought rised a bitter anger within Victor's breast.

"I'll get you for this, Gru." he hissed through "I am Vector! I may have been beaten. But I'll be something you could never hope to match."

**.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**.**

**This is the first chapter of a second DM fanfic, I wanted to do this from Vector's perspective after the moon heist. I quite like Vector, he might be evil like Gru, but he's also very misunderstood.**

**I hope you enjoy the coming chapters!**


	2. Chapter 1: Cut Off

**Boys Will Be Boys**

**Chapter 1**

The ship ride back to Earth was quiet and lonely for Victor. He had a lot on his mind, for one he had just realised that despite being in the ship for 15 minutes he had not taken off the oxygen bubble that had covered his face to stop him from suffocating. He had only realised when it began to steam up and his vision blurred because of it.

The other thing that was on his mind was his father. He had never sounded the happiest and bubbly of men even when he was pleased, but there was no mistaking the angry and resentful tone in his voice when Vector called him to be rescued from the moon. Was it the cost of the rescue that irked his father? Was it Vector's failure to secure the moon and the financial boon it would bring the Bank of Evil? That part was a lucky draw though, since if Gru had not defeated him the moon would have destroyed the Earth, but Victor knew his father would not care about that.

The other part… were Gru's daughters, and how readily he gave up the moon for them. What a fool, Vector thought. Giving up the moon for three children? The man was obviously a total washout and how he had become a villain in the first place made Vector chuckle with a little self superiority. It provided him with some comfort, until he looked at the screen that lined the outer wall of his ship. It flashed up with bold orange lettering and a view of the outside. He saw his house with the destroyed front gate and Phish, his pet shark, swimming around the outside moat with a big bruise on his snout.

The orange lettering said "Approaching Destination: Beginning landing protocols" quite ominously, and Vector gulped. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach, and he began to tremble with trepidation. There was a slight, barely noticeable jolt in his ship as it lowered itself through the hole in his strange shaped houses roof and landed.

A soft female computer voice sounded over unseen speakers as he stepped off his craft into a landing bay. "Welcome home Vector. Your coffee is ready at 64 degrees Celsius, and your pop tarts are being baked. Would you like the morning paper you missed delivered to the kitchen?"

"No thank you Lina." Vector answered glumly. He trudged towards a doorway a few metres ahead of him. The grey dreariness of the landing bay was a far cry from the aesthetic beauty of everything else about Vector's possessions and house. In fact, it was very ugly, and old, rusted and oily couplings held the ship upright, and the refuelling gear began to work with a lot of clunks and grinding noises.

"Your father is waiting in your living room. He wishes you to head there at once." Lina casually mentioned. Vector gulped, and began to walk to the living room.

The door to his living room opened with a whisper, and he glanced around the white oval room nervously. The large orange circular seat was empty, and his TV was off. Vector looked at the glass tank his shark swam in, though it was nowhere to be seen. It often hid when his father visited, and that was proof enough for him that Mr Perkins, although out of sight, was not far away.

Vector sat down, and he tapped a button on the coffee table in front of him. A cup of coffee rose out of a small cubbyhole that did not seem to exist before, and after he pulled the cup off of it, it vanished and reappeared again with strawberry pop tarts. Just next to the cubbyhole that carried his coffee and pop tarts, another one appeared and rose up condiments for his coffee. Marshmallows of various colours sat on a small orange plate, and a dispenser for whipped cream, chocolate topping and sugar sat just opposite.

The house was a technical marvel, and would make the richest of men rage with jealousy. This kind of house was not available to anyone but Vector, since it was all of his own genius design.

He sighed calmly and began to smother his coffee with cream and chocolate topping, and he carefully pressed marshmallows in an obsessive pattern in the mound of cream.

Just as he moved it to his mouth to drink, a harsh sound ripped through his living room and he spilled it everywhere from fright. The sound was his father clearing his throat.

"Victor." He said calmly with a deep drawn in breath.

"Dad… Hi." Vector coughed and spluttered. He was covered in coffee; luckily his jumpsuit was fireproof so he felt no burns. He stood sharply and faced his father, wiping some of the coffee off of him nervously. His father stood there with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Sit down." His father ordered harshly. Vector gulped loudly as he did so. Mr Perkins stepped around the sofa to face his son and his imposing figure was the most imposing Vector has ever experienced today. He looked into his father's tiny, piercing eyes and they stared back, determining his fate.

"I think its time we talked, Victor."

"Dad… I am Vect-" Vector attempted to argue, as he hated being called Victor.

"You are not." Mr Perkins cut in. Vector stared at him dumbly for a second, not knowing what his father meant by this.

"What?" Vector finally asked.

"I am cutting you off." Mr Perkins announced. His words hit Vector with the force of a freight train, and he felt all of the blood rush from his legs and face, and he struggled to keep himself upright from the dizziness that had swept over him.

"I…" Vector murmured.

"You have done well my son." Mr Perkins began to pace slowly in a line. His business meeting voice had kicked in, and this confirmed to Vector he was serious. "But I need people who can get results."

"I-" Vector choked.

"The economy is not perfect. Villains all over are going bankrupt from not being able to fund heists or having no success with them. And that is causing me a problem." Mr Perkins breathed in again; the sheer size of him meant he must have been using a lot of energy and effort to keep himself standing.

"I know, but-"

"I need villains who know how to turn a heist into a profitable venture." Mr Perkins explained with cold hard bitterness. "Last week, a young woman with no villainous background made me many millions from stealing a whole museums worth of artwork."

"Yeah but-" Vector struggled to get a word in.

"You don't seem to have what it takes." Mr Perkins chided, without any tone at all. His words were pure and simply business; he did not offer his son any shelter from the cruelty of them. "I had faith in you, and you did not let me down with the pyramid. But the moon failure cost me too much money, I cannot forgive that."

"But dad, please." Vector pleaded. "Give me one more chance."

"I am afraid my hands are tied. The board unanimously expressed their desire to cut you off. I have no choice." Mr Perkins said coldly and without any evidence of remorse or pity. Vector wondered if the board really had any power over his father's decisions, but he would never know for sure.

"Please, dad. I'll do better! I promise." Vector begged, nearly dropping to his knees.

"I can't do that. You are my son so you'll always have a good home and whatever you want. But I cannot fund your villainy anymore. I am disappointed in you."

And with that, Mr Perkins walked calmly down the stairs towards the exit without another word.

Vector slumped into his coffee soaked seat, and he flopped his head onto his palms. "What am I supposed to do now?" he said, choking on his words a little.

Vector sat alone in his chair, silent, desolate and wide awake for the rest of the day and all through the night.

**xxxxx**

Vector jumped out of his seat with a girly squeal as his TV burst into life in front of him from its Alarm Function, since he often fell asleep on the sofa after a lazy night of video gaming. The volume on his speakers was booming, and the "News at 7am" came on. Vector sighed, he was in a state of shock still, and he had fallen into a state of daydreaming mulling over thoughts in his head about what he was to do with himself. He felt he should continue with his current line of work, but perhaps he would need to be cleverer with how he went about it.

The newsreader appeared on the screen with the typical dramatic music that accompanied a news report, and Vector watched.

"Good morning, this is Keith Dane with NABC News at 7 O clock. Our top story today..." He turned with dramatic posture to another camera, which made Vector laugh a little. "The moon has now been returned to its rightful place in the sky, after 3 hours without it. Coastal towns and cities across the globe faced disasters as the sudden lack of the moons gravity change tidal forces with shocking ferocity. Deaths are believed to number the thousands."

Vector looked down at the floor with these words, and he felt a pang of guilt. Though he was not responsible for them directly, he could have been. The newsreader continued, "Many shipping lanes and commercial freighters faced terrible delays and some were run aground until the moon returned. Authorities are baffled as to how the moon disappeared and suddenly reappeared, though the main unifying theory is that it was shrunk down following the disappearance of a highly confidential shrinking device from North Korea. The evil mastermind was seemingly defeated by a courageous hero and the mastermind vanquished."

Vector scoffed at the news reporter, no one really knew what had happened, how could they just make things up on the spot like this?

"The president had this to say:" the screen flickered over to the president giving a speech in his newsroom with camera flashes occasionally lighting the screen up.

"The unknown hero responsible for returning the moon back to its rightful place is to be awarded a medal of valour, and commentated for his bravery. The authorities are still looking for the evil and pathetic individual responsible for the moons theft. Both individuals remain unknown to the government at this time, but we are working hard to reward," he smiled, then his face turned serious again, "and punish those responsible for the act. We are working tirelessly to find the mastermind who will be brought to justice soon. Thank you for your time."

The news report went back to the news reporter and Vector switched his TV off with despair. They had called him a failure and evil.

He stood up and made his way to the kitchen and resolved to eat every piece of junk food he owned for comfort.

"Good morning Vector." Lina chirped, making Vector jump a little.

"Good morning Lina." Vector replied dismally.

"Today is Sunday the 29th of May, 2010." Lina said kindly. "The time is 9.24 am, and the weather outside is sunny with no overhead clouds. May I suggest a walk to calm your nerves? Your vital signs are showing signs of stress and fatigue."

"No." Vector snapped.

"On orders from your father, I have incinerated all of the food you own over a certain calorie content, as he feels you are putting on weight. I have printed a diary of a training regimen for you to use, it is in your office." Her voice was always kind sounding, the sort of mother everyone could want. It irked Vector that she sounded like it even when she said things that he didn't want to hear. So much for pigging out on junk food…

Vector sighed and made his way to his office to see the training schedule Lina put together for him on fathers orders. Monday was for sit ups, Tuesday was for back crunches… he screwed up the piece of paper and threw it on the floor. It vanished when a small hole in the icy white floor opened up and swallowed it up with a sucking noise.

Vector flopped heavily onto his office desk chair and started up his computer. It hummed into life and messages and diary entries flashed on the screen.

"10.30: Prepare plans to steal Sphinx." He read aloud. Suddenly, the words were crossed out with red writing and a large CANX symbol covered it. "Great… dad's cancelled that."

"May I suggest a walk sir? Your vital signs are showing elevated signs of stress." Lina mentioned again.

"I know. I am stressed because I can't do my job anymore!" Vector snapped.

"I apologise for that, sir." Lina said calmly. Vector new it was just a premeditated response to him being angry, she had no idea of his situation. He knew that well since he designed her. Although Lina sounded very human like with her responses, they were still robotic and written with a clever response programme he had written for her, she had no emotions at all. It was all a façade to convince any visitors he was the "real deal" as far as supervillainy goes.

"Its ok..." He replied tiredly. He had gotten used to having her as a companion and he often spoke to her as one, even though saying it was OK wouldn't cheer her up if he snapped at her, like it would have with a human associate.

"OK… what else can I do?" he mumbled searched through his diary and found only one appointment that wasn't cancelled. He had to be there at twelve o clock.

He was going to be visiting his aunt.

"Great." He huffed and crossed his arms. "Just what I need."

**.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**.**

**Authors Notes: I've always wanted to do a fanfic from Vectors perspective, and now I feel I've come up with a decent story with which to write one. I'm not sure how people will react to it however, since he is definitely a marmite character. For those of you who don't understand what I mean (it is a primarily British phrase) it means he is either loved or hated, there is no in between.**

**As far as the story goes, I feel he's quite like Gru, just younger. He has a parent who expects a lot of him, perhaps more than he can fulfil. I imagine since Mr Perkins is a very cold character in the film this would extend to his son too in order to mould his son into a real "man", just as Gru's mother mistakenly believed would be a good way to raise Gru.**

**Oh well… we shall see how this pans out! I hope you enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 2: Circles and Ghosts

**Boys Will Be Boys**

**Chapter 2**

Vector did his best to pass the two hours without getting too depressed, but channel hopping was out of the question. At this time of morning all the TV channels had their early morning chat shows, and each show was a similar story of mocking the man who stole the moon and praising the man who put it back.

"May I advise a walk sir? Your vital signs are showing signs of stress." Lina cut in from his dismal slump on his office chair.

"Lina…" he growled, yanking at his face with his hands in annoyance. "I am leaving the house at eleven thirty. That is my walk. Register walk."

"Walk registered Vector. Anger levels noted. Your next cup of coffee will contain extra sugar to compensate." She cheerfully said.

Vector couldn't resist a snigger, she reminded him of the highly annoying call centre workers who would call every now and again to badger him with special offers of low cost long distance calling, or to let him know he had won a competition he had never entered. Regardless of how uptight he got, they would always remain courteous and bubbly. His robot assistant was no different, so he reminded himself he would try and write some programming that could enhance her personality a bit.

Vector trudged to the living room again, trying to find something to do. Phish swam idly in his tank, and the shark would occasionally stare at him deeply as he walked up the stairs.

"Hungry boy?" he said, tapping the glass. The shark acknowledged him by turning itself upside down, Vector had spent a good year or two training the shark as a baby to be able to understand him and respond. When the shark swam upside down, that meant yes.

"Alright my itty bitty man mauler. Daddy will go get you some food." Vector affectionately cooed to his shark. It responded playfully and Vector tapped the glass which made the shark swim around rapidly, almost like it was a dog.

"Lina." Vector shouted authoritatively.

"Yes Vector?"

"Dispense some dolphin meat into the tank, Phish has been a good boy today."

"Yes Vector."

A distant sucking noise arose from a part of the house Vector rarely visited, since that part was fully automated. Suddenly in the tank a hole opened up in the gravel and some shredded meat floated into the tank, and Vector watched as his shark pet ravenously gnawed at it. When it had finished, Vector heard his watch beeping and his fascination with the shark rudely came to an end. It was time to visit is Aunt.

**xxxxx**

Mr Perkins walked into the Bank of Evil with his usual unstoppable stride. He felt awful about having to cut his son off, but it was necessary. His father always taught his failure was unacceptable and must be stamped out or simply abandoned.

There were a couple of people he didn't recognise sat in the waiting area, and he approached the reception desk, which towered over even him. Moira, the receptionist, regarded him respectfully.

"Good morning Sir." She nodded. Her voice was courteous and very well spoken, and her eyes flicked from behind her oddly shaped red glasses to the seated individuals.

Mr Perkins contemptuously followed her gaze and he turned back to her. "Send in the first." He said with a straight face, though his voice practically oozed malice. She smiled and nodded, and watched as Mr Perkins waddled towards his office which sat at the top of the ornate stairway.

"Mr Laithwaite?" she said suddenly. A small frail looking young man nervously gasped, and he carefully drew his head up to look at her. He looked terrified and he could barely hold the rolls of posters he had brought with him. His overall appearance was comical to say the least. "Mr Perkins will see you now." Moira finished ominously.

The little man nodded, and made his way up the staircase.

A young woman who had sat opposite him watched him leave, and she thought about what gruelling questions and mockery he would face. She gave him 5 minutes, tops, before he came out a dithering mess making a hasty beeline for the exit.

The woman swept the blonde hair out of her face as she held a piece of paper in her hands, and she heard a womanly small scream from upstairs. "Quicker than I thought." The woman muttered to herself in amusement.

She heard the little man's footsteps turn into a tumble down the stairs, and he landed on the floor with a splat. He whimpered and yanked himself off the red marble floor and sprinted out of the office screaming like a banshee. The overall mood in the waiting had darkened, and the two other people who sat with her waiting for their turn to impress Mr Perkins became sullen and nervous themselves. She saw them exchange worried looks and the woman smiled to herself.

"Send in the girl." She heard Mr Perkins crackly voice utter over a speaker. Her smile widened.

"Anita Princely?" Moira asked indifferently. "Mr Perkins will see you now."

Anita lifted herself up from the seat confidently and she made her way to Mr Perkins office, smiling casually as she went.

She opened the door to Mr Perkins office, trying not to strain herself under its immense weight, and she saw him, sitting at his table idly. His fingers were pressed together in an arch; the shape was akin to a church steeple. Anita noted the irony of the shape since his broad shoulders, tailored suit and haircut made him look practically satanic.

"Sit down." Mr Perkins gestured to the tiny stool in front of his gargantuan mahogany desk. She had only been in this room once before, and her senses were assaulted by the smell of expensive leather and rich wood polish.

"Thank you." She said with an airy voice as she lowered herself gently on to the stool. Mr Perkins eyed her up and down, and he drank in her scent.

Some of her friends would say she sounded a little ditsy. It was a façade, behind her cutesy manner and dress sense, was a calculating and intelligent woman. Her blouse was a pretty purple blouse with a bow at the neck for a tie, her skirt was airy and flowery, and her hair was long and free flowing. It trailed just down her shoulders and curled lightly, and a flower hairpiece held a side piny tail. Her shoes were similarly adorable white pumps with pink flower adornments just beside her ankles.

"Welcome back, Anita." Mr Perkins smiled. His fat cheeks almost obscured it, but she could not mistake the warmness of it.

"Thank you very much, Mr Perkins." She replied warmly.

"I wanted to congratulate you on the success of your first mission. Raiding The Louvre without detection and escaping with 90% of its most valuable paintings in one night is a feat worthy of my best and brightest." He said. He did not get up, which annoyed Anita a little. The magnitude of her success deserved some more respectful recognition, and the fact he was still seated showed his lack of respect.

"Thank you very much, sir." She smiled falsely. He closed his large solid gold laptop and turned his face back to her.

"I trust your next endeavour will be much more spectacular." Mr Perkins said with a hopeful and fatherly tone.

"Yes. It will be." She answered coolly. He eyed her deeply for a second more, and stood up. The floor seemed to move under his weight, which was amazing since it was pure solid marble, about 2 metres thick, and there were no rooms underneath them.

"We are watching you closely. You are expected to make a 30 percent rise in profit on your next mission." Mr Perkins said as he walked to the bust of himself. He smiled at it, which made Anita chuckle inside, his vanity was so obvious he may as well as held up a giant "I love myself" sign with flashing lights.

"30%?" Anita asked thoughtfully and she cutely put her index finger on her lip. Her attempt at enchanting him seemed to be working, as Mr Perkins's usually stiff posture seemed to slacken.

"Yes, the board wishes for you to become our most profitable investment." He answered smoothly. He lowered himself heavily back onto his huge throne-like chair, and clasped his hands together. His face stiffened and he looked serious. Anita mimicked him. "Now… what is your plan?"

He leant in close and stared into her eyes expectantly and wistfully. Anita wondered what kind of lustful thoughts were swimming around in Mr Perkins head, and the thought disgusted her. But she knew putting herself through this was only temporary until she was one of the greatest villains alive. "Patience, girl" she promised herself.

She leant in and gave a deep breath and a smirk to Mr Perkins who seemed to respond by shuddering.

Anita leant back smiling sweetly, and she pulled out a piece of paper. Mr Perkins looked at it, and then back to her. "Is this some kind of joke?" he said, raising his eyebrow and looking at her dumbfounded.

**xxxxx**

Vector stepped out of his half blown up garden and onto the street. His primary mode of transport was gone, destroyed beyond salvation when the moon expanded inside it, so he had to walk.

He looked somewhat lost standing idly in the street. He had automated pilots taking his to any destination he chose, but now he had to rely on his own sense of direction to take him to his aunt's. He glanced around the cul-de-sac he lived in and tried to get his bearing.

"I guess I gotta go… left?" he said nasally, sniffing deeply as his hay fever began to kick in. He made his way in that direction and turned a corner after a few minutes of walking. He stopped in his tracks when a small boy bumped into him.

Vector gasped in sudden fright as the boy steadied himself. He looked at the boy for a second, and huge green eyes stared into his stoically. The blonde hair of the young boy was wild and unkempt, and Vector began to feel a little uncomfortable. He noticed another two boys just behind him, one younger and about half the middle boys size who had short brown hair, and one older one with longer black hair. The eldest held a clipboard in his hands, and upon seeing this Vector's memories flashed towards Margo, Edith and Agnes. The horrible Gru daughters who had near ruined his life.

"Watch where you are going kid." Vector snapped, trying to take control of himself and assert his dominance over the three of them.

"You bumped into us, you big nerd." The blonde boy replied harshly to a taken aback Vector. He began to shrink back as the boy squared up to him.

"Yeah, you watch where you're going you big silly man!" The youngest said with a mock wag of the finger. He struggled to string those words together, and Vector assumed he was very young. The eldest simply observed the other boys and Vector, and didn't say anything. His black hair was styled a little, and Vector avoided his gaze which seemed fierce and intelligent.

"Uh…" Vector said, starting to lose his cool. The blonde boy's dark and deepening smile seemed to imply he sensed Vectors rising fearfulness and he wished to take advantage of it. So much like the blonde girl, Vector thought, and he gulped hard.

"Why are you wearing lots of orange, mister?" the youngest asked while tugging at the clothing on his legs.

"Umm…" Vector hesitated, and he attempted to back away from the youngest.

"I bet his mom makes him wear it. Like a costume." The middle one laughed.

"Sorry about my brothers." The eldest said finally taking control as Vector was backed up against a wall. He yanked the two other boys out of Vectors way so he could get past. Vector scoffed and shook his head trying to collect his nerves, and carried on his way to his aunt's house by pushing past the blonde kid who tried to trip him over. As he rounded another corner just ahead of him, he broke out into a light run as he heard the middle child laugh hysterically, no doubt at his expense.

"Darn kids…" Vector mumbled to himself as he slowed himself down to a brisk walk. It was about five minutes later that he realised he was supposed to go right out of his house, not left. Vector stomped his foot in anger and he cursed unintelligibly, which prompted some piercing stares from two elderly ladies who were on the other side of the road. Vector became very aware of himself and he looked away awkwardly.

"Damn kids." he heard one of the old ladies say to her friend, who nodded in agreement. He turned and made his way back, hoping he could avoid any more children and elderly people on the way to his aunt's. Thankfully he didn't come across those three young rug rats again.

Vector carried on for what seemed like forever, and he began to recognise his surroundings. His hay fever had kicked into overdrive now, and his nose was a sickly shade of red and his eyes were puffier than those strange golf fish he sometimes fed to Phish. He sneezed incessantly, and held a light coloured handkerchief to his nose and blew out. He noticed after removing the cloth from his face, he was right outside his aunts.

The house loomed over him, and he gulped. The building was an old white wooden house from Colonial era America, and it had been in dire need of repainting ever since he could remember. The windows looked thin and shabby, and the curtains were a nicotine-stained shade of brown.

Vector made his way up to the front door and straightened himself up to knock on the door.

**xxxxx**

"No, why ever do you ask?" Anita pondered with mild amusement.

"The paper has a circle on it, and nothing else." Mr Perkins pointed out.

"Yes, it is. There is a good reason for that." Anita had switched from her dappy self into her cool collected version, and the change seemed to go unnoticed. Her small enchantment had paid off.

"I… hope there is." He swooned.

"I do not wish to reveal too much, but the circle is a symbol."

"Of?" Mr Perkins breathed deeply.

"I found it on one of the Louvre paintings. It's the symbol of a secret society I thought long extinct." Anita had stood up, and she postured herself for maximum sex appeal. It was astounding how easy men could be manipulated, and even more so that a man such as Perkins could be puppeteer simply from her mannerisms. "The symbol was on a modernist piece I found, and that confirms it may still be around."

"I see." Mr Perkins thought deeply. His eyes followed her rear, and she felt sickened inside, but knew it was necessary to get him to invest. "And where does my considerable monetary power come into this?"

"I wish to follow this society. I believe they have a considerable amount of wealth, perhaps more than anyone has ever known." She said proudly. Mr Perkins followed her every move hypnotically. "I will steal it all."

**xxxxx**

"Victor my dear sweet angel!" he heard. The voice was muffled because the arms of the person who spoke to him were clasped tightly around his head in a vice like grip and covered his ears. His face was stuffed up against someone's chest, and he struggled to breathe.

"Hello Aunt Clarice." He said through her jumper. He felt his warm breath soak into the fabric, and the woman's two gigantic breasts smothered him.

"My my, you look worse for the wear." She laughed, and she removed a handkerchief from her pocket to rub his face. Vector tried to defend himself from her evil clutches, but it was no use. She was vastly strong and much bigger than he was.

"Come on stop it." He struggled out of her grasp.

"Sorry," she chuckled "I forget you ain't a little young pup any more." She released him from her arms and stepped aside to let Vector into her house. The inside was no better than the outside, it was a mass of old junk that needed desperate need of dusting. The stench of stale cigarette smoke filled his lungs, which didn't help his hay fever at all.

The door slammed shut behind him, and his huge framed aunt bounded past him towards the kitchen, he remembered. Vector followed after her and she fixed him a glass of water.

"Moira told me what happened to you." His aunt said, her tone of voice sombre and pitying.

"Yeah…" Vector sulked.

"Your dad is a hard man Victor, you know that." She pointed out. "He's doing it so you learn some harshness of the world."

"What, by cutting me off from my money?" Vector snapped.

"No, you buffoon. He's teaching you independence." She leant against an old larder, and it creaked under her weight. It was a wonder it didn't topple over.

"Independence… right." Vector laughed sarcastically. His Aunt Clarice shoved the glass of cloudy water into his hands.

"When your mother passed, god rest her soul," his aunt respectfully placed a hand on her chest in memory of his mother, "your father took it upon himself to look after you as best he could."

"I know, but I don't know what to do." Vector muttered, more to himself than to her.

"Well... now's your chance to be your own man. Your father ain't gon' carry you anymore, so now you can earn your own living."

"But Aunt H-" Vector began but she cut him off.

"Listen. Whatever you do is your business. You could stay doing what you do, if you want. I don't have any say in that." she talked with stoicism, and Vector pursed his lips as he knew he wouldn't be able to talk over her. "But, you just do it well, and you'll feel the best you ever did."

"I can't do it without money." Vector tried desperately to convince her.

"Your dad built that bank out of nothing but a dream. You do the same. You don' need money."

Vector sighed and nodded glumly.

His aunt raised her eyebrow, and her little green eyes. flashed She knew he didn't really listen to her advice. Her bulbous brown hair, despite the size of its style, was held perfectly still; no doubt from the copious amount of hair spray she used to keep it that way. There was a pause of silence for a few minutes as his aunt pottered about in the kitchen and gathered several different pots and pans together and placed them onto the stove. She grabbed a chopping board and made her way to the fridge.

"You need to get some food in you boy, you look positively skeletal." She prodded his belly with a stick that she was not holding seconds ago, and Vector wondered where it had appeared from.

"Well dad thinks I should lose weight." Vector huffed. Clarice laughed.

"Your father wouldn't know anything about good diets. I make sure my children are kept thin." She barked. Her pink cardigan fluttered as a breeze crept in from under the garden door. Vector sipped his water, then gulped it all down.

"Yeah, how are they?" Vector asked. "How many you got now?"

"Little rats they are." She hissed bitterly from inside the fridge. "I can't seem to make enough of these boxes for them. Kids don't know respect these days." She gestured with a stick to some new boxes on the floor, and then to a black marker pen on the kitchen table. "I have over forty now. Forty! Can't seem to get enough volunteers to work with me. Don't blame them. I hate kids."

"I was a kid once…" Vector said pointedly. She looked at him dimly and she shook her head.

"But you were a little angel my deary." She patted him softly on his shoulder with the stick. "Still… if the girls all misbehave there's old woody here to bring them back in line." She said while waiving the stick around. Vector regarded it with shock and he edged away from her.

"Well, the sooner you can get them moved onto new homes the better." Vector mentioned. His aunt shook her head.

"There will always be more. Shows how downhill things are going in this world. Oh well, they make me plenty of money selling cookies so I'm not complaining."

Her face contorted darkly with a slick smile. She removed the empty glass from Vectors suddenly slack hands and noticed his face had turned ghastly pale white.

"What on earth is the matter with you?" She asked him oddly. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"

**.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**.**


	4. Chapter 3: Not According to Plan

**Boys Will Be Boys**

**Chapter 3**

"A ghost?" Vector gulped. "No, not a ghost."

"Whatever." she shrugged. "This food is going to be tasty, just you wait." she waved a spoon around flicking stew juices onto the walls and floor without even noticing.

"Listen, food can wait. I got something really important I need to do." Vector came out with it, he waited a few minutes to pluck up the courage and realised blurting it out quickly would be the most confident option. Usually, it was not best advisable to interrupt his aunt while food was on the cards. The size of her waist suggested she liked food. A lot.

"What ever for." Aunt Clarice mocked ignorantly.

"I need to go to the orphanage." he said apprehensively behind closed teeth. The wooden spoon clunked onto the work surface harshly and Miss Hattie turned to face Vector down.

"Why?" she asked in a hard and disapproving tone.

"I need to check something. I can't tell you why."

"Then I can't take you." she answered solidly. Vector slumped.

"Come on, do it for me? I've been through a lot these past two days." He attempted puppy dog eyes, but Vector has no idea his face contorted into something completely the opposite from a cute and endearing face.

"Tell me why." she pressed. Her arms crossed and Vector knew he wouldn't get anywhere without being honest.

"I want to find someone." he admitted "I can't tell you who, or why, but it's important. OK? Please?"

Clarice sized him up, and unfolded her arms calmly. "Fine."

**xxxxx**

"Well, we are here."

The sound of rubber tyres screeching against warm tarmac was a particularly harsh sound to Vector, especially when the low vibrant hum of a resonant propulsion engine was the sound he was accustomed to over the years. Cars were not elegant ways to travel, despite the luxury of his aunt's obviously expensive car. Vector gruffly rubbed his neck from the harsh jolt of his aunt's over the top braking.

"I'll be a few minutes." Vector said giddily. "Are you coming in? You can make me a hot chocolate."

His aunt scoffed and threw her bulbous mound of hair back in a way that suggested she was slightly affronted, with a slight hint of sarcastic humour about it.

"Dear, I hate being in there when I _have _to work." She said sweetly. Vector shrugged and slammed the door behind him after getting out in a hurry. The welcoming brick building with its colourful paintings loomed over him, and his fate beckoned him inside.

The doors were thick and wooden, and he pushed them with a slight struggle. A caretaker was mopping the floor and the guy completely ignored the shrill creak of the doors closing. The doors slammed with a clunk, and Vector took in the size and height of the room.

He whistled in awe, it was much taller than it's outside suggested. It struck Vector that the place didn't seem particularly welcoming, despite the obvious fact it was supposed to be an orphanage. He noticed rows upon rows of photos, each girl in the photo looking sad and forlorn. Vector dwelled on this until his wandering eyes fixed on the large wooden desk in the middle of the room. He smiled wryly when he saw the computer.

"Good..." he said darkly as he stepped over to the computer. The caretaker still ignored him and whistled a tune Vector recognised, but he didn't know where from. "Right… let's get this show on the road."

**xxxxx**

"A secret society you say?" Mr Perkins rubbed his chin curiously. Anita felt she had bagged this interview, and her confidence positively swelled inside her.

"Yes. It's ancient, as far as my research goes." She pressed calmly, trying to press his buttons. The grand nature of her plot was something she had been relying on. Mr Perkins was a sucker for plots that were either big news or big money. Though the former, it was not (obviously stealing from a secret society would never make the news), the latter it was in spades.

"I'd like you to begin right away." Mr Perkins muttered after a few moments of contemplation. His eyes twinkled.

Anita smiled victoriously. "Of course."

Mr Perkins returned her smile and he stood up. "Here is your pay for the last job." He picked up an unseen briefcase and placed it onto the rich mahogany desk. The briefcase had the crest of the Bank of Evil on it, Mr Perkins rubbed the crest suggestively, winking at her. "Enjoy."

Anita bowed her head and she took the briefcase. It felt uncomfortably light, a thought flashed in her mind. Mr Perkins did not take his eyes off her. She noticed his look had become suddenly smarmy. Well, smarmier than usual a least.

The room became dark and foreboding, as it dwelled on her the briefcase was empty. She could tell Mr Perkins, at that exact point, knew she had figured it out. He smiled.

"That secret society, you wish to rob…" he began with a dour tone, "I take it you did extensive research first." He stood up.

"Yes, I did." Anita answered with all the confidence she could muster. She felt it draining with every step Mr Perkins took towards his statue.

"I see." He eyed the statue calmly, and he turned it around. "Notice this?" There was a button just underneath the collar of the bust. Anita nodded, which prompted Mr Perkins to press the button gently.

The bust opened up, revealing a piece of paper. On it, was the same symbol Anita had shown him at the start of her "pitch". She gulped, hard.

"Yes." Mr Perkins growled in acknowledgement as the realisation dawned on Anita. "I am a high ranking member."

"Sir, I had –" Anita began to press, but he held a hand up to silence her.

"You are like my son Victor. You don't plan, you don't succeed." He interrupted. Anita nodded, hoping that agreeing with him might allow her the attempt at salvaging this mess it all had collapsed into.

"Get out." He added.

**xxxxx**

"What are you doing, mister?" a small voice cooed behind Vector's chair. He leapt back in fright and gave a yelp that sounded a lot like a Chihuahua with a sore throat. The room echoed with the dim thud of him landing on the floor.

"Nothing, kid." He groaned. Vector glanced up from the tangle of two arms and legs he had become on the floor and saw a little black haired girl looking at him curiously. He then noticed she was trying to hide a smile. Vector sighed and stared at her glumly.

"Who are ya? Come to adopt me?" she said as giggled at his sour look. Vector scoffed uncomfortably, how was he supposed to answer a blunt question like that?

"Uh…" he hesitated. "No I'm not. I'm uh… here to fix the computer." He nodded rapidly to childishly emphasise the lie he had told, assuming a rapid constant nod would reinforce his story when dealing with a nosy child.

"My names Penny." She smiled and did a curtsey. "Can I watch ya fix it?"

"Look… it's complicated." Vector sighed. "You wont see much."

"Please?" the little girl called Penny begged a hugely out-of-his-depth Vector. Her eyes twinkled to aid her in her pleas.

"Fine, but stay there." Vector shrugged. He picked himself up off the floor and dusted himself off. Considering the caretaker was still in the room with them mopping, the floor behind Miss Hattie's desk was filthy.

"Yay!" Penny squeaked."

Vector sat back down on the leather chair and tapped the computers mouse. The screen flickered into life and a rather benign and dull desktop greeted him. "So, let's find this… uh broken programme." Vector mumbled. Penny stood right up at the desk and rested her nose just on the rim of the table on her tiptoes, and she looked at the screen and at Vector alternatively.

"Here we go." Vector said deliciously. He clicked a programme that brought up a database of past children. Vector attempted to search for Gru.

"What? No results?" Vector said angrily. Penny looked at him and she pointed to another part of the programme. "Oh, right." Vector chuckled at his amateurism.

"Not again!" he huffed as the screen once again returned a no results found box. "He must have covered his tracks."

Vector tapped his chin in deep thought for a second until his eyes locked with Penny's big brown ones. In his head, a small devilish idea popped into it.

"You remember these three girls who lived here before, kid?" he asked in a high pitched voice.

"My name is Penny. And I met lotsa kids, doesn't mean I remembers 'em all." She said coolly.

"These are three special kids though." Vector continued, ignoring her brattishness. "One of them wore glasses, another a pink hat, the other a topknot pony tail."

"Oh my gosh! Margo, Edith and Agnes!" Penny became suddenly excited. Vector smiled deviously and turned back to the computer. "They were so fun and Edith used to love making mud pies with me and Agnes was so cute…" she trailed on and on, not noticing Vector wasn't paying attention.

"M-a-r-g-o." Vector spoke gleefully with each key press. His finger hovered over the enter button momentarily and he pressed it with a chirrup. The screen flashed to Margo's file, and sure enough, there she was, bespectacled and a bit more cheerful looking than the girls in the other photos.

"Hmmm lets see now."

"… and Agnes had this cute little unicorn toy called Fluffles and Margo used to read to me when I was sad and…" Penny rambled on. Vector caught snippets of her chattering, but he ignored her.

"Next of kin, there we are!" He pressed the tab, and suddenly saw a photo of her mother and father. He looked at them for a second curiously, a small pang of sorrow crept over him as he read the words "deceased".

"Margy used to tell me about her mom and dad." Penny cut in suddenly, bringing Vector out of his daydream and rising choler. " You aren't here to fix the computer are ya?"

"No." Vector admitted forcefully. He felt angry, seeing a photo of her dead parents brought memories of the previous day to him, how his father had practically disowned him and left him to rot, with no money and no means of rebuilding his reputation.

"Then why are you here?"

"I wanna find someone."

"Who?" Penny could have been no more than 7, but she seemed observant for her age. "What does it have to do with Margy?"

"Her new dad owes me a lot." Vector said darkly. Penny looked at Vector and she seemed to become sad.

"Mister, my dad got into trouble for owing people. It's why I'm here. I feel sorry for Margo's new daddy." Vector considered what she said as she trotted off to do whatever it is a kid would do. He shook his head, what did she know about what Vector went through and how he felt?

He resumed his search glumly, reserving himself to silence until he had the information he needed.

**xxxxx**

Anita left the Bank of Evil in a huge hurry. She knew she would not be followed out by guards, but that did not stop her feeling uncomfortable and wanting to be out of there as quickly as possible.

When the huge secret entrance clanged shut behind her, she collapsed on the floor, unconscious.

**xxxxx**

"I take it from the look on your face you didn't find anything." Miss Hattie pointed out rather inconsiderately as Vector flopped into the back seat.

"No. Everything was deleted. All I found out was who their mom's and dad's were, but nothing about Gru."

"Go to your father, he must have files on him." She offered.

"No, I won't go near that place ever again. I gotta do this on my own." Vector snapped.

"Fine. Want me to take you home, honey?"

"Yes, please." He answered while rubbing his head. The sun was beginning to set in the warm early summer sky. The blue was just beginning to transition to pale yellow, and the glass towers of the downtown area ahead of them shimmered and gleamed in the light as Miss Hattie began to drive him home.

**xxxxx**

Anita mumbled to herself as she began to regain consciousness. A voice echoed distantly in her mind.

"Miss…" she heard. Suddenly she felt a sharp prodding in her back, which made her open her eyes slowly. The light was harsh and she squinted at the source of the prodding. The voice was much clearer now.

"Are you OK?" a man asked. Anita sat up very quickly, realising she had fainted in the men's room.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She mumbled and groaned.

"You look worse for the wear. Lay off the vodka." The man mocked cheerfully. Her vision cleared up and her eyesight focused on a friendly looking old man with a thick beard.

"Vodka? What?" she asked, a little dumbfounded.

"Well, passing out in the men's room is not a common sight in a bank, kiddo." The man chuckled. His smiling face was a welcome sight against the cold white clinical bathroom she was in. If she's have woken up alone, she would have immediately though she'd been captured by Mr Perkins.

"Yeah, of course. I apologise." Anita nodded while attempting not to get into a state over the failure of her pitch. She pulled herself up off the floor and steadied herself against a urinal, careful not to put any weight on the middle one lest she activated the secret entrance by mistake.

"Never mind. Can I get you some water?" he offered gently.

"No, I'm fine thanks old timer. I just need to get myself home." she smiled. Her mind was doing somersaults, how could she not have known he was part of the society! What a fool she was.

The old man shrugged and led her out of the bathroom, allowing Anita to use his arm as a support as she was still a little unsteady on her feet.

Anita waved to the old attendant through the plain glass window of the bank and she collected herself. The hustle and bustle of evening rush hour traffic was her company now for her long walk home.

**xxxxx**

Vector sunk into his half circle sofa and considered how he would ever exact revenge on Gru when he didn't know where the guy lived.

"Good evening Vector." His friendly computer aide chirruped over the loudspeakers. "Your hot chocolate and marshmallow drink is complete. The time is 6.07 pm and the temperature outside is 23 degrees Celsius."

"Thank you." Vector gruffly answered.

"I have detected elevated stress-"

"End announcements until 9 am tomorrow." Vector said dolefully.

"Confirmed."

Vector now had peace and quiet. Though, upon reflection, that was all he ever really had.

**xxxxx**

Anita walked slowly towards her home, the student dorms at her college. She passed the gridlock stricken queues of cars, people closing up shop, and the beginnings of a night life.

She sighed, and wondered what she was going to do now, since her student loan was now going to be difficult to pay. She also wondered about trivial things, like how her parents were doing, and how her father would reach if he knew what she had done, being the heavily religious man he was.

Anita passed a TV shop that was still open and glanced at the TVs lined up in the window. She halted in her tracks, and her eyes locked onto one TV that was reporting the news. She ran into the small and dingy shop and looked for an attendant. When she found one kneeling by the counter arranging a stack of MP3 players, he glanced up at her irritably as her shadow loomed over him.

"Excuse me, can I have some help?" Anita asked seductively with a hand on her slightly pushed out hip. The shop worker's glum "were are just about to close this better be good" facial expression changed instantly, and he was all too happy to help.

"Welcome to Big Barry's TVs and Electronics. How can I help?" the young helper said enthusiastically.

"That TV in the window," she pointed to it and fluttered her eyelashes at him, "looks amazing. I'd like to watch it, I might buy it now if I like the picture."

The attendant's eyes glistened gleefully at the prospect of a sale and he nodded.

He cheerily walked over to it with her and turned the TV around on its stand to face her. The volume was muted and she saw images of the moon and a very grainy looking picture of someone dressed in orange overalls. Anita didn't know why she was so desperate to hear the story, but she trusted her instinctive draw to it and wanted to see where this could go.

"This is a Movue 9000. Top of the line, it's got…" the man began to count on his fingers like a dimwit "9 billion pixamels I think." Anita rolled her eyes.

"Can I please watch the news, it's my favourite." Her voice was like the most beautiful songbird, and it washed over him and caressed him gently him with its melodies.

"Yeah… course." He blurted out.

"Thanks cutie!" Anita winked. The nameless assistant walked back over to his chores in a love struck daze, and Anita snapped into serious investigator mode and she pored over the TV. She turned the volume up and listened intently to the newsreaders.

"… while reports are sketchy, it is believed that the man behind the moon heist is the infamous Victor Perkins, also known as Vector, a man implicated in several other audacious heists in recent times." Anita noted things down in her memory bank.

"The police report shows the young man in a CCTV image reportedly running towards a strange ship moments before the famed but nameless bald hero returned the moon to the sky where it belongs. Police are looking for the hapless villain for questioning relating to the allegations. If you see him ple-"

Anita switched the TV off and left the store promptly, ignoring the clearly affronted shop helper shouting at her for being a time waster and that he has bills to pay or something. An idea dawned on her, an idea so devious and clever she thought it was a sure fire winner. She could still infiltrate the secret society; through him. He was Mr Perkins son she now realised, and that meant he was in a perfect position to be manipulated. If he was as amateurish as the news reporters boasted he was, it would not be difficult to turn him into a puppet.

**.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**.**

**Hey readers! Sorry this has taken me so long to write! I have been quite busy of late, but I've been desperate to start writing these stories again.**

**Thank you to Massinvader (quite an avid reader of mine ^_^) for your review, I'm glad you like it so far!**

**And Coldblue, I've noted your comments and I like them, thank you for your input. I very much have the character of the boys mapped out, there will be some similarities between them and the Gru daughters but there are surprises in store, writing them to be identical to Margo Edith and Agnes would be dull for you to read and dull for me to write. I hope you like them in subsequent chapters :-) (apologies for them not appearing in this one)**


	5. Chapter 4: The Price of Brotherly Love

**Chapter 4**

**Boys Will Be Boys**

The early evening sky glowed a deep hue of orange and yellow as the sun inexorably descended towards the western edge of the sky, to close this day off and renew it again the next.

The city had quietened down, motorists had ceased their incessant hooting and the wails of frustrated commuters died down, the noise of rush hour replaced by still awake birds fluttering around taking advantage of the quiet streets to scavenge dropped food.

One small bird pecked at a chip that lay crushed under innumerable feet only to be frightened away by a small fair-haired boy wearing a dirty green hoodie and dirty green tracksuit bottoms.

"I'm bored, do we have to go back to Ike's yet?" he asked a taller boy who had walked round the corner just after him. His voice was a little husky, and his green eyes shone with mischief.

"No, but it's getting late, and you know what he gets like if we don't deliver the money in time." The taller boy answered. The fair haired boy shrugged irritably and continued bounding down the street after clusters of birds.

The taller boy continued after him at a leisurely pace and placed his hand on another boys head who walked with him, and gave his short black hair an affectionate tussle. "Come on Charlie, lets get going."

Charlie smiled up at the older boy with a large grin and he trotted along the quiet downtown streets with his calm and quiet older brother. Occasionally they passed a pedestrian who would eye them with suspicion, the oldest would either avoid their glares or notice his younger hoodie clad brother staring them down defiantly

"Michael, don't get too far ahead, jeez." Charlie said grown up like with a wag of the finger.

"Dude you are younger than me you gotta do what I say." Michael shrugged. He noticed a discarded sandwich on the floor next to a particularly dank looking store, possibly abandoned, and smiled gleefully. "Eat this."

He tossed it to Charlie's feet and smiled at him expectantly. "Go on."

"Theo, tell him to stop." Charlie glanced up at his oldest brother, his eyes pleading for intervention.

"Cut it out Mickey." Theo slapped his brother upside the head playfully, and they continued on.

They passed even more shops and side streets, and the general surroundings steadily turned from clean pristine downtown skyscrapers and expensive boutiques to old worn down buildings and an inescapable aroma of filth. A stranger to these parts would slowly to feel uncomfortable and perhaps unsafe, but not the boys. They were used to it, it was their home and that was that. They didn't really know better. Well, Theo did, but he sucked it up for the sake of his brothers and ignored the past and did his best for them.

Theo stopped in his tracks when he saw an open fast food restaurant, and realised he had not eaten for hours. His stomach growled in protest. He glanced at his brother Michael who returned his sheepish look and they both sighed, realising they mirrored each others thoughts.

"I don't want to have to do this." Theo murmured as he rummaged his pockets with the sound of clattering coins ringing in tune with his movements.

"Don't wanna have to do what, big brother?" Charlie had become distracted from looking at a half open circuit box in the street, his fascination with the wires and circuitry overshadowed by his brothers forlorn tone of voice. His eyes bored into Theo, and he could tell his littlest brother was hungry too. He looked emaciated. They all did, where they lived they did not eat well or regularly.

"Come on, I need some food." Michael stomped in predication. Theo sighed deeper, what they were about to do was very risky, and would probably cause them more trouble in the long run. Theo hesitated as he stared towards the fast food place on the other side of the road. Its golden signage and posters of tasty looking food screamed at them to come in and sit down and have a hearty meal. Theo looked back at Michael, who should know better than to pressure him into doing something that was as bold as it was stupid.

Theo's stomach grumbled again, and he bit his bottom lip. His dirty white and blue chequered shirt flapped in a sudden breeze that pushed him lightly towards the fast food joint, and he relented.

"Fine, lets go and eat." He sighed with a heavy smile. Charlie jumped into the air and bellowed "Burgers!" in a deep, manly voice, and Michael pumped his fist at his older brother in a sign of respect and gratitude.

Theo watched his younger brothers excitedly bound into the restaurant and his smile vanished.

"Why should they have to live like this?" he choked as he walked in the shop after them.

**xxxxx**

Anita opened the door to her dorm quietly and with purpose.

She did not want any of her dorm friends knowing she was home, it would interrupt what she needed to do. She needed to find this Victor Perkins character, and she set to work immediately.

Her mind was positively alive with plans and ideas, she could perhaps use him to infiltrate the bank and download some information on meeting points the society Mr Perkins was a member of used? Perhaps she could brainwash him and get him to torture Mr Perkins for information that way. No, that was silly, she didn't know brainwashing. Although… she could research it given enough time, she pondered.

Her laptop flickered into life and her fingers tapped away at the computer. She searched census records, poll registers, school files, using all of her wits and knowledge of computers she could easily find things, quickly and efficiently. This was all relevant, of course. It gave her an idea of what kind of man she would be dealing with, and how she could use him.

Anitas face was shadowed ghoulishly in the dim artificial light of her laptop in the dark, barely visible surroundings of her room. She bought thick curtains to block out a lot of light, she often tied in a surplus of light with a lack of privacy. Darkness made her feel enveloped in herself, she was the only person she'd ever trusted. Sitting there, alone in her dark room, she felt relief and freedom.

She began her search in earnest, and fully 30 minutes had passed since she started. She robotically soaked in the information she had found.

A mental picture of Victor began to form in her mind. As she read school reports she realised he was a very bright person, he had done extremely well in computing class, science, pretty much anything he had worked in he got high grades. She saw a picture of him in 4th grade. He looked adorable, the typical boisterous little boy with a blazing brain behind his eyes. They glowed with sarcasm and cheekiness, behind thick glasses. His hair was jet black and cut into a bowl cut.

She moved on to middle school years, and the accolades flooded in still. He won a science invention award for inventing a self-cleaning gravel that could be used in a fish tank. She saw a picture of Mr Perkins next to his son collecting his award, and she assumed he took all the profit for his son's invention. Seeing his smarmy face made her angry, she desperately wanted to crush his pride. The nerdiness of Victor became much more obvious in this picture too, much of his cuteness had gone and he looked a little bit lonely. The school pictures in each consecutive year in high school showed a boy who looked steadily less confident in himself and more out of touch with his peers.

She sighed on his behalf, a little pang of sorrow crept up inside her. She pushed the thought out of her head.

"High school…" she muttered to herself as she tapped away. "There we go." Anita smiled to herself as more reports of his exploits cropped up; interestingly, on his 16th birthday, he had just finished a gun which fired goldfish at high speed.

Anita scoffed with a laugh. "Why on _earth _would you invent a gun like that?" She shook her head and resumed her fact finding mission.

Suddenly, after the gun invention story, all records of him at school disappear. Anita searched fervently for his final two years at high school and found nothing, no graduation photos, no high school grades, nothing. She had no idea what he would look like, in his most recent photo, where he was 16, he looked happy but again distant. She could find no evidence of him on networking sites at all, so she didn't know what his personal life could be like either. Was he a loner?

"That's interesting. He's 23 years old. Hmm…" Anita pondered. She searched for his exploits, and found (after sifting through far too many reports of the moon haist) a couple, one theft of the pyramid, and one theft of a highly prized shark, which was a national treasure to the Australians at the time and left a nation in mourning. The first one, the theft of the shark, took place one year ago.

"So it seems there's a four year gap between his last days at school and becoming a villain?" Anita closed her laptop and glanced around her spotlessly clean but small dorm room.

"I'll go see him tomorrow." She said with a dogged look on her face.

**xxxxx**

"Oh MAN that was good eatin'." Michael bellowed as the boys trudged down an alleyway. Their bellies were distended and full, and Michael And Charlie were satisfied and well fed. Theo smiled to them as Michael bounded up and down the alleyway ahead of them and climbed on dumpsters and kicked them playfully. He chuckled at the harsh metallic echo they unleashed, and Charlie joined in, though his were quieter.

Theo allowed them to play as he counted the money for the days take.

"$49 and 502cents." He said plainly to himself.

"How much?" Michael shouted to him from farther down the alley.

"50 bucks, that's it." Theo answered darkly.

"Oh…" Michael halted and sat atop the dumpster he had climbed and waited for his brother. As was typical of Michael, he put his hood over his head when they neared their home to shield himself from it. They weren't far now, about another 5 minutes more and they'd be able to see the building.

Charlie played ahead of them and Theo stopped at the dumpster his brother sat on.

"What are we gonna do?" Michael asked tentatively.

"I don't know. We spent 25 dollars in there." Theo admitted with regret. Theo berated himself while his brother watched helplessly.

"Maybe, maybe he wont notice?" Michael offered some hope after his brother sank to the floor and angrily crushed a can under his fist.

"He will, you don't just "forget" 25 dollars." Theo growled as he observed a small drop of blood appear on the floor, realising he had cut himself on his hand. "We are going to be in trouble, you and Charlie need to get straight to the room and lock the door." He continued hastily.

"Tell him we lost it." Michael said calmly. "And I'm not gonna let you take the fall for this."

"You are 9, Mike." Theo pointed out. "What are you going to be able to do?"

Michael opened his mouth to speak, but Theo cut him off. "Look, I don't want Charlie to see anything. You do as I say, and take him upstairs."

Michael had a pained and conflicted look on his face, but his eyes gave away that he accepted his older brothers commands. "Ok." Michael said.

"I can deal with a few bruises." Theo said, placing his thumb up to his younger brother. Mike didn't return his thumbs up, but he smiled falsely to Theo instead.

It was beginning to get dark now, and the filthy trash filled alleyway became a foreboding place. Theo stood up and grabbed Michael's hand and pulled him off the dumpster and continued their trek to their home.

**xxxxx**

Vector rolled on the sofa he was resting on, and woke suddenly. It was pitch black in his house, none of the automatic lighting switched on upon his awakening. He scratched his head in confusion. Maybe ordering his computer assistant to shut down until morning had literally meant shut down everything. He could literally see nothing, and he mouthed, "Lights on."

But no sound came out. He winced at this horrible circumstance, wondering why he could not speak, and he made his way to a sudden small flicker of light ahead of him. He knew the layout of his house well, but the location of this light seemed odd and he knew if he walked to it he'd fall off the edge of the shark tank and fall to the floor below. Still, he felt an inexplicable urge to follow it anyway. He walked for a few seconds towards it and suddenly the lights flared into existence.

His house was filthy, that was the first thing he saw. It was nothing like the clinical beauty it once was. Everything was made out of concrete, there were poor cement sealant lines on the dome where blocks of concrete were used to make the dome shape, the shark tank was made out of horrific wired glass for strength, and his TV was gone. Even the sofa was gone, in its place was a dirty looking single bed with a thin mattress and a nylon quilt so thin it would surely have been thinner than a silk gown. Everything looked cheap and old.

He realised, from looking around flabbergasted at the sudden changes that his shark was gone. Phish was not in his tank, and the tank was actually empty of water. Vector gasped, silently. He began to breathe heavily, the eerie total absence of noise made him feel the loneliest man alive.

He made his way outside, the automatic sliding door he usually used was a blast door instead, and it looked rusted beyond recognition. He walked outside, and thankfully everything here was normal. He stood in the middle of his idyllic neighbourhood street in the dead of night, and everything looked peaceful in the moonlight.

He turned back to regard his house, which assumed the look and aura of a dark maximum-security prison. There were copious amounts of barbed wire adorning the thickly bricked wall around it, and instead of security cameras resting where they always did there were guard towers and searchlights. Vector felt a complete and sudden desperate urge to avoid the pillars of bright light searching randomly for a target. He didn't know why he wished to avoid it, but the need dominated him and it frightened him. He ran, and when he could run no more, he turned back to look at his house.

It was then he noticed the pyramid was gone too. He tried to shout and question what was going on, but still he could not speak. There was no sound, the rusted blast door of house make no screeching noise, his footsteps made no echo in the silent darkness of his house, and he heard no rustle of leaves from the trees in the street he cowered in.

He risked a glance up to the moon, a realisation crept up inside him. The moon was not in the sky, in fact, it was in the hand of Felonious Gru, who stood before him.

"Why do yoo want dees so badlee little boy?" Gru mocked. His teeth were razor sharp and his eyes glowed yellow and a dark shadow hung over his enemy like a halo of malice. Gru's usual attire was now a horrible cloak with a spiked collar, and it soaked in the light from the street like a black hole. Vector felt the warmth in his body being drained from him, and he chocked on his inaudible screams.

He tried desperately to answer, but no sounds came out.

"Yes, dat ees right." The cold and malevolent Gru mocked, his voice cracked and wheezing. "Yoo don't eeven knaow."

"Yes…" Vector managed finally. Gru's eyes squinted at him.

"Yoo cannot 'av dees. Yoo are not worthy."

"No, that's not true!" Vector argued with his nemesis. Gru's cocky and condescending smile widened and he chuckled deeply. The force if his laugh made the ground and Vector's bones vibrate.

"Yoo have nothing, leetle boy. Not even de moon will do aneetheeng for yoo." Gru said.

"Wha..? I-" Vector stopped mid sentence, as the Gru thing had now taken on the shape of his father. His father's already demonic stature was amplified tenfold here, and a fire burst into existence behind him. His eyes glowed a deeply unsettling crimson, and his hornlike hair took on the form of actual horns.

"You are nothing to me now, boy." The booming voice of his father announced. Vector felt his face lashed with tears.

"No! Father, I did whatever I could!" He pleaded.

It fell on deaf ears. The roar of the flames behind his father grew stronger.

"You… son." His father pointed at him with a bony but at the same time fat finger and he opened his fanged mouth sinisterly. "You are a FAILURE!"

Vector screamed as the flames behind his father leapt forward to engulf him, and he awoke on his sofa covered in sweat and screaming.

He slowly caught his breath, his heart beat relaxed and he processed what he had just seen in his dream. The mind of Victor Perkins was hurt and lost, and ultimately Vector was without a purpose. He had to make one.

The dream kicked up a feverish anger inside him.

"I gotta make my dad proud, and I gotta own Gru." He said with conviction.

"I gotta be the best damn supervillain in the whole god damned world! Oh yeah!"

**xxxxx**

As they rounded a street corner, a drab looking tower block loomed over the three boys and they walked up to the entrance. Theo turned to his two younger brothers and he became suddenly very stern. Michael reflected his older brothers mood, the mischievous twinkle in his eye vanished and he stiffened his laid back posture. When Theo had something to say, you listened.

"Remember Mike, take Charlie upstairs and lock the door." Theo said forcefully, though without meaning to. Michael nodded in agreement, while Charlie looked between his two brothers with confusion.

"Why I gotta go upstairs?" he asked timidly.

"Because, I gotta talk to Ike." Theo said coldly. His shouldered were stiff, and it would be apparent to many he caved a lot of weight on them. Only his younger brother Michael knew, Charlie was too innocent to know for sure, but he was beginning to notice. Theo needed to get them out of there, but he could run away. They'd be found, just like every other time they tried to leave.

Theo stood up and placed his hand on the large metal entrance door and looked dolefully at Michael, who shrugged. Theo smiled, his brother often acted nonchalant to help Theo think less of the situation. It was a delightful coping mechanism, one he envied of his younger brother. The door creaked and squealed as Theo pushed it open, and he led his two younger brothers inside.

The largely unwelcoming sound of incessant dripping and the smell of stale furniture wafted over the three of them. They were home.

"Ok, go" Theo said suddenly, and Michael quickly grabbed Charlie's hand and lead him off down the corridor and through a doorway to a staircase.

Theo sighed, and made his way dolefully towards a door half ajar. From the other side he could hear a man talking, his deep boomy voice and heavy footsteps making Theo's heart rate pick up speed. He gulped and pushed his way in.

The room had a cold yellow light in the middle, but it was still very dark, only a desk in the middle and two chairs opposite it could be made out. Theo knew the room well, he knew there were books and random objects along the walls out of site.

The man with the boomy voice turned to face the doorway and locked eyes with Theo. He smiled wryly, and he said with a snarky voice, "Jerry, I'll call ya back. My money maker's here."

Theo walked up to the chairs sat opposite the flaking desk and he sat down.

The man had a large frame, his face heavily squared and cracked with scars and wrinkles, and his clothes were as old as he was. He had the air of power bout him, and his eyes shone with calculating intelligence, which belied his gruff brutish outside.

"Theodore. How are yeh ma boy?" he welcomed heartily with a chuckle.

"Fine Mr Simmons." Theo said coolly.

"Call me Ike, I keeps tellin' ya that." Ike smiled warmly. "How was your day?" Ike sat heavily in his unseen chair that creaked heavily under his frame. He was not a small man nor was he overweight, in fact he positively rippled with muscle.

"Look, let's cut the crap OK?" Theo said coldly. "I got your money. 50 big ones."

Ike's smile did not vanish, but it did twitch ever so slightly. Theo prepared his body for the inevitable impact he always expected.

It did not come when he expected, however he did feel the ground shake as Ike stood up.

"50?" he asked ponderously. Theo nodded.

"I see." Theo heard the warm tone of voice slowly ebbing away.

Neither of them noticed Michael watching from behind the door that had been left slightly ajar.

"I'd say no food tonight as a punishment, but from the look of you, that's not a problem, is it Theodore?" Ike pointed to a stain on his jeans. Theo gulped, there was tomato ketchup on his left leg, his light blue jeans gave it away clear as day in the yellow tungsten glow of the light above him.

"Been spending my MONEY?" Ike roared, grabbing Theo by the throat from his chair with a sudden movement Theo did not even see. Michael gasped from the doorway "Have you? BOY?" he tightened his grip on Theo's throad and held him off the floor, the tips brown shoes scraping on the wood floor, but he couldn't get a foothold.

Michael cried tearfully in silence for his brother from the darkness, a completely helpless witness to the cruelty of greedy adults.

Theo choked, and Ike finally after a few seconds loosened his grip. He gasped for air, and Ike lowered his to the ground so his feet could rest slightly on the floor.

"We…" Theo coughed and spluttered, "were hungry. Charlie hasn't eaten for two days…"

"You think I give even the slightest bit of a damn about that boy?" Ike growled at Theo, his malevolent and cruel eyes boring right into Theo's. Michael watched still, biting his sleeve to prevent any sound from his cries giving him away, or Ike's wrath would be absolute.

"He's… he's my brother." Theo said calmly. He gasped and winced as he felt Ike's massive fingers tighten around his throat again, though no where near as tight as before.

"Well… therein lies the problem." Ike casually released Theo from his grip and the boy tumbled to the floor in a heap. He coughed and wheezed trying to catch his breath and avoid bursting into tears, despite how often this had happened he never got used to it.

"What?" Theo breathed heavily.

"Well… if you spend my money to feed yourself cuz you aren't eating enough, how can I trust you?" Ike proposed to Theo.

"It'll never happen again, I swear." Theo pleaded.

"It better not. You ain't getting food for three days now." Theo and Michael both gasped in horror. Ike smiled, and continued ignorant of Theo's attempts at begging him. "And tomorrow, your little brother Charlie is gonna stay in the basement to learn he cannot," Ike closed his fist at Theo who's face became constricted with grief, "ever convince you to spend money. My money."

Theo tried to plea with Ike, but it fell on deaf ears. "Even if it was your idea, he influenced you. I can't have children in my care to disobey me."

"Ok." Theo answered in defeat.

"Now, I expect a lot more tomorrow kid. $200." Ike chuckled leeringly to Theo. Theo nodded in acceptance, Ike was really giving them hell for this. What he wanted was impossible

With those words, Ike began to lead Theo towards the door, which prompted Michael to sprint towards his room 3 floors above them. He moved swiftly and silently, and his eyes stung with tears. He always knew his brother took a beating for them, but this was the first time he'd ever witnessed it.

Theo heard the door slam behind him, and he staggered towards the stairs to his room. On the second floor he collapsed from emotional exhaustion and sat there silently with his back to the wall. His mind was on Charlie, who was inadvertently an innocent victim of a harsh and cruel punishment. Theo sat there for hours, and tried to think of a way he could spare his 4 your old brother from Ike's cruelty.

**.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**.**

**Authors notes:**

**Hey everyone, thanks again to all of those who are reading. I'm starting to enjoy writing this story a lot. Hope you liked it as much as I enjoy writing it!**

**Panakeias, thanks for the review! I understand your point, I had to think carefully about certain parts of the film and how they would affect what I would write, and I actually completely missed that part where he bounds up to Gru's house and tries to steal his rocket! –****embarrassed- ****. But, to answer your question, I had to take some liberties with the story so I had a story of my own to write, there's certain parts of this story that worked a lot better with Vector not knowing how to find Gru because he covers his tracks very well. Gru being the solitary and quiet villain he is, I thought it suited him being difficult to find but Vector being quite happy to have the news know of his identity as part of his villainous exploits. I could very much see the thoughtful and calculating Gru relishing his exploits anonymously, I could not see the hot headed and brash Vector doing this. You'll see what I mean in later chapters, but if Vector could have known where Gru was all along, I'd have no reason to have the boys in this story other than a carbon copy of Gru adopting Margo Edith and Agnes but with Vector and male versions of the girls instead. It gives me lots of opportunities for comedic moments too. ^_^**


	6. Chapter 5: Walking and Running

**Boys Will Be Boys**

**Chapter 5**

It was dark in the hallways and stairwells of the apartment block the 3 boys, Theo, Michael and Charlie called "home". The spooky howling of wind rushing it's way underneath closed doors and ajar windows was the only sound to be heard.

It wasn't much of an apartment block anymore. Half of the doors were boarded up and nailed shut, and the other half were open and anyone could go in them. Theo knew as well as anyone it was far from an apartment block now. Ike's men used it as a den of sorts, though other people lived there who had little to do with them. Theo was streetwise enough to know that while they did not mix with the throng of unscrupulous characters that made up Ike's "family", as he liked to call it, they were part of it in some way and it was probably to do with drugs or something similar to what the boys got up to outside the building.

The building itself was the stuff of police horror movies; the heroic protagonist would chase the murderer or dark force into a dank and abandoned apartment block for the climactic final showdown. His flashlight would flick between the open doorways searching for his target, while the hero's heavy rushed breathing belied his fear of being snuck up on.

Theo walked past a few open rooms on the way to their own. They were filthy and empty, virtually no light penetrated them so Theo found it difficult to see, but he knew the rooms were trashed and scavenged. Very little of the room reminded you that someone used to live there.

Theo continued his walk to the apartment he and his two brothers stayed at and stopped at the door. He heard Charlie laughing and giggling and Michael pretending to be an evil pirate torturing him for the location of "precious booty". Theo smiled half-heartedly before he opened the door.

**xxxxx**

Outside Vector's house it was quiet. The crickets of the night were chirping away while some unseen animal rustled its way through the bushes that lined a garden nearby, and the stars twinkled above in the haze of the city light sky.

The destroyed front gate of Vector's home sparked occasionally with a flash of electric blue light and made buzzing noises as the broken servos and mechanisms tried to close a door that wasn't there. The hole in the roof of his house had been covered with a tarpaulin, ostensibly to keep out rain or unwanted birds.

The real reason was Vector was hard at work, and it wasn't just any tarpaulin, it was a sound cancelling fabric he invented when he was younger. It hid away the activity and noise within the house, for Vector was hard at work. The only giveaway that some epic commotion was taking place inside would be the thumping vibrations felt on the floor outside. The sun rose and made it's way over the sky blue painted pyramid he kept in his garden as a hidden trophy, and the neighbourhood started to work itself awake.

The traditionally American houses with their typically American front gardens were a stark contrast from the odd dome shaped house that sat at the end of the street before it veered off to a coastal road some miles away. Still, it was plain to the blonde woman walking towards the eyesore of architecture the neighbours paid no mind to it and it was simply a quirky person with quirky tastes who decided to build quirky house to them, but she couldn't help smile as the families of this neighbour went about their new day. Kids ran from porches towards the big yellow school bus waiting patiently outside with smiling mothers waving goodbye, and bread winning fathers driving shiny cars off to the downtown district for another days work.

Anita could see the house a mile away. The street was one of the longest in the city and was well known as being "Mile Hill", since the street started at the top of a gently sloping hill and ended at Vector's house. A mile was a fairly long distance to spot a house, but the obviously painted pyramid and the sun glint from the smooth white surface of the house turned it into an almost daytime light bulb.

Anita began to question herself a little, she wondered what kind of person would build a house like this and leave a pyramid outside it. A villain, although preferring grandiose acts of infamy, usually sought privacy to blend in with normal society. This guy seemed the total opposite, he positively shouted to the world he was a… a crackpot. Was he really as amateurish as Perkins implied?

She wouldn't need to wait long to find out, as she had reached the front gate. She could see the damage plainly, and she gulped. "Not a good start." She muttered to herself as she stepped over some broken and protruding piping towards the door. The front door opened with a whisper and she stared down an empty corridor that was pitch black.

Anita thought for a second. "So, he has a pyramid outside, a big shouty house, a crater for a gate, and a front door that will let anyone in." She started to walk into the house and waved her arm around in front of her, her razor sharp eye for traps saw laser sensor emitters in front of her. "And also a non existent security system." She added dolefully.

"Attention visitor. Please state your business." A computerised voice echoed in the dark hallway, which gave Anita a bit of a start.

"I am here to see… Victor Perkins?" she asked the voice as she walked on further. The darkness began to envelop her now.

"Please note, Vector is not able to see visitors at present. Please vacate." The computerised voice began to take on a female sound, and Anita assumed she was no longer in the corridor and somewhere else. It was hard to tell, what with everything being pitch black. However, she ignored the computer.

"Please vacate at once. Security systems will be used." The voice spoke up after a few moments.

"The security system looks switched off." Anita pointed out. In an almost human like way, the computer pondered this fact for a moment with a "Hmm."

"Please leave anyway." It said finally.

"No, I'm here to see Victor Perkins. Since you can't make me leave I don't have to worry about you."

The computer voice sighed and seemed to accept that it would be futile to argue with her, and Anita felt unusual having just beaten a talking computer voice with logical thinking. It was slightly weirder that this computer voice also just sighed. It was too human; nothing she heard of in the modern could do anything like that.

Anita walked into a wall with a thud and a girly ouch. "Can you switch the lights on?" she asked, frustratedly rubbing her nose.

"Yes." The computer answered and with that, bright white light bloomed into existence and she saw she was standing in a room with the biggest fish tank she had ever seen.

"Please can you tell me where this Vector is?" Anita asked after a few seconds of watching the big shark swim around in its tank idly.

"He is in his room. I will call him for you." The computer said.

**xxxxx**

"Vector."

No answer. The only sound in the room was heavy snoring was heavy snoring. Heavy snoring that echoed, making it sound like the room was filled with people.

Vector was splayed out on his bed, his room a complete shambles of random items of clutter and pieces of paper strewn everywhere. It resembled a scrap-yard in many ways, because the random items of machinery that filled his room to the brim looked neither functioning nor in particularly good condition. In fact, half of the machines didn't look totally complete, and the other half were simply a pile of fixing, the larger or more useful components that used to make up the finished article were gone.

Apart from the rusty machinery, the room was tidy, as ever. The walls were still pristine white and shimmering, sunlight pierced its way into the room through the "window". It fell on Vector's eyes, and he mumbled a little.

"Vector. It is 10.31 am." The computer assistant said in a second attempt to wake him up.

"Urrmmhmm ok mommy 5 more minutes..." Was his reply.

In what would have seemed like a scene from a Professor Gadget show, a robotic arm came out of a suddenly appearing hole in the wall, and it began to prod him.

"What…" Vector groaned while turning over, waving his arm around as if to swat away a fly buzzing around him. His glasses were still on his face, barely. One arm still rested on his ear while the other was tangled up in his matted hair.

The arm relented in its prodding. The computer voice gave a mild sigh, and the arm reared up. The hand of the arm opened up, and the arm swiftly moved towards Vector and gave him a sharp thud, causing him to yelp as he felt the fleeting sensation of falling. A millisecond after he felt this, he didn't feel like he was falling anymore, because he landed on the floor with a dank metallic thud. Vector groaned and adjusted his glassed.

"I think I've broken something…" he murmured while trying to crack his back while still sprawled on the floor. Something uncomfortable dug into his back, and he grabbed at whatever it was, and brought it up to his eye level. He huffed and chucked the car engine alternator across the room that preceded several dank thuds and then a loud crash as something bigger fell in its wake. Vector gritted his teeth and closed his eyes as the clatter of metal resonated throughout the house, until there was silence. Again

"Vector. You have a visitor, now get up." The computer voice sounded with a little irritation.

"Yes, yes. I am up." He grumbled. Vector then gave a sharp intake of breath as he realised the other part of what his assistant had just told him. "A visitor?" he asked timidly.

"Yes, she is waiting in the living room." He was answered with more irritation.

"S- she?" Vector asked while biting a finger. This was unexpected to say the least. A visitor was rare but a female one? Unheard of. Aunt Clarissa had no idea where Vector lived, so who else would it be?

"Yes. A she. Now please lower your heart rate and get some clothes on."

"But I hav-" Vector gasped, and realised he was sleeping in his boxer shorts. He usually slept fully clothed, since the fibres in his warm up suit were self-cleaning. Alas, that suit was all burnt up, and Vector rubbed his behind gingerly as this sudden remembrance triggered pain in his rear.

"Vector, she is prying. Just hurry up for goodness sake." His computer assistant complained. A small hiss and a little distortion signalled his computer voice's "signing off" which meant she was not going to talk to him anymore.

"A female visitor…" Vector chuckled nervously. He negotiated the clutter of machinery and other assorted trinkets strewn about his room and made it to the closet, where he opened up the door (after having to move what looked like a V8 engine block) and grabbed another orange suit out of several other identical ones. He hurriedly threw them on and renegotiated the clutter, and dashed out the door quietly. His head was spinning, he wondered what he was going to encounter waiting in his living room, and what it's purpose was.

From the cold sweat running off of this young mans forehead and the nervous tensing of his jaw muscles, you'd think he was about to address a mass murderer.

**xxxxx**

The sun was just beginning to emerge over the tallest city skyscrapers where 3 boys were wandering around, to a stranger perhaps aimlessly. The shadow of the tallest tower covered their wanderings like a foreboding reminder of what their goal was today.

Money. And they had to make up for what they spent yesterday, and try and get their usual amount on top.

How the boys went about this was simply, they would try and beg for it, try and con people out of it by pick pocketing whatever they could and then selling the items at a pawn shop that knew Ike rather well. They even tried to raid trash bins and sell cans or other metallic items to recycling centres for money.

Charlie was usually kept out of doing the seedier tasks if Theo could help it, Charlie was not stupid and would know exactly what they were doing. Charlie was only impressionably if it came to his older brothers. He shied away from everyone else and was quiet around other adults. He often completely ignored people if they spoke to him, even if they offered him some food. He would just take it and trot back behind Theo, his usual hiding spot.

Unfortunately for Theo and Michael, they had not been doing these usual errands for long, so they were very amateurish, and juggling between trying to get money and keeping Charlie out of harms way was tough. Several times people had chased them after discovering they had been nearly robbed or conned, several times they had to hide, and even less times they were successful.

After a particularly long run from an angry Café worker both Michael and Theo came to a stop outside a scrap yard near the outskirts. They were very out of breath, not less Theo, who had to carry his younger brother Charlie because his small legs would not carry him.

Theo gently placed him on the ground and he collapsed to catch his breath, followed instantly by Michael.

"Heh, close huh?" Michael wheezed gleefully. Theo frowned.

"Yes. Don't ever do that again." Theo replied with sharp intakes of breath.

"What, we've only got 5 dollars, we needed more." Michael shrugged after he sat up. Their breathing slowed. Charlie looked at them both with worry.

"Why did that man chase us?" he asked timidly.

"Oh…" Theo thought for a second. "The man thought we looked like bad kids or something."

Michael nodded. "Yeah, it's because we are dirty and… stuff."

"I don't wanna be chased anymore." Charlie huffed. "We get chased lots, I don't like it. It's scary."

Theo smiled at his little brother warmly. "I know kiddo, but it's just because of Smelly Ike and what he makes us do."

"Yeah, stinky smelly Ike." Michael offered. Theo and Michael usually reserved more adult language for their guardian, if he could be called that, but when Charlie was around it was an unspoken agreement to keep that sort of language locked up.

"I'm hungry." Charlie huffed.

"Me too." Michael spat as he kicked a can towards a burnt out car shell. He smiled wryly at the metal clang it made when it hit the car. He looked on the floor and found a few rocks, his smile widened further until his big brother's shadow descended over him.

"Knock it off, we gotta go." Theo growled. Michael sighed harshly and, rather than releasing the rocks calmly, decided it would be better to throw them all at once at the car then skip off with a cheeky grin aimed at his older brother.

"Whatever." Theo frowned, and he took Charlie's hand and they began to walk towards the city again. It was still early, so perhaps, Theo thought to himself, they could make the money and maybe more, so they could buy some food after all. Theo sighed as he hoped this, because thinking of food made his empty stomach gurgle in protest.

**xxxxx**

Anita spied at a red light on the wall. Like virtually everything else in the house, it was… a "part" of the wall. It was not separate as a light switch or plug socket would be, it was almost like it was moulded as part of the wall itself. Which fascinated her, she had a keen interest in architecture since being small, and seeing the trinkets that were part of the wall but not a part of it made her think of how it was possible.

Her deep fascination with the walls was interrupted by the feminine computer voice.

"Vector will be with you shortly, Madam." The computer said dully, adding a small tone of condescension to the word madam. "Please stop looking right into my camera please, your face is distorted and it makes me feel uncomfortable."

Anita withdrew her close up inspection of the red blinking light, now aware of what it was. She pondered the computers almost human like nature, that too was completely fascinating.

"Are you in a room somewhere?" Anita asked.

"Hm?" the computer replied.

"In honesty, I've never come across a computer assistant like you. Which makes me think you aren't a computer at all and you are… like a maid in a room somewhere." Anita said calmly, feigning stupidity. It would be good to gauge this computers opinion of her.

"I am not "in a room"," the computer mocked nasally, which made Anita gasp quietly, "I am a computer yes, but my core isn't somewhere that can be accessed. So don't think about it."

"About turning you off?" Anita asked curiously, staring at the little red light. It seemed as though they were sizing each other up, a computer and a human both trying to assess the other's intentions. An observer would have not been lost on how surreal this scene would have appeared.

"Yes. I can tell you are more intelligent than you dress and act." The voice answered coolly.

Her first setback. This computer was hard to trick, so perhaps, since it was Vector's assistant, it would tell him about any trickery and deceit Anita might have to use. Still, she was up to the task. She would just have to get Vector out of the house more.

"Do you have a name?" Anita asked suddenly. The computer didn't answer. "I see." Anita surmised out loud.

Suddenly, a clang and a howl of pain startled Anita and she turned around. Anita's eyes locked on a metal contraption on the floor. It looked rather heavy, and it was rolling away from something. Anita slowly drew her eyes up, taking in one leg, dressed in bright orange, hopping around. Another leg came into view, being held by two hands. Then a torso, dressed in the same orange. Then she saw the head, angled down towards the foot. A large and bulbous nose was framed by huge, thick black glasses, and a shiny head of jet-black hair finished off the person in front of her. This was Vector.

He hopped on one leg as he cradled his foot, yelping quietly and rubbing his toes. "Owy owy owy." He groaned, slightly nasally, before he came to a complete stop. His head snapped up and two big brown eyes behind thick spectacle glass locked with her own. The pupils were large, until the processing was finished and Vector realised he was looking at an attractive female. They shrunk, now barely thicker than mechanical pencil lead. The man gave a sheepish smile and put his foot sharply into the ground, attempting to look completely normal.

Anita's face was impassive, as she assessed her future "ally". She saw him look to the floor and shuffle awkwardly.

"Hey…" he spoke, sound like a ten year old boy in front of their school crush.

"Hi." She answered plainly. Small pangs of regret hit Anita. Her grand plan to manipulate this man looked to be her biggest waste of time, because he looked positively pathetic. Not like a villain at all, but like a boy who liked to blow stuff up because he thought it was cool.

The computer voice interrupted the momentary silence, "Now we have the pleasantries out of the way, shall we proceed?"

Vector snapped out of his daze and seemed a little more alert now. "Oh… yeah." He said, this time sounding a little confident.

"I am Vector… what bring you here?" he said, feigning the aura of a man who was both great and powerful. In truth, he was neither, and Anita knew this.

She pondered. "Aren't you going to offer me a seat?" she asked after a few seconds. This completely derailed Vector's thoughts just as she intended.

"Uh… yeah." He said, a little uncomfortably. "Have… a seat?" he pointed to his curved living room seat. Anita smiled.

"Oh thanks," she smiled slightly, "but do you have a meeting room?"

Vector gasped quietly. A meeting room, of course! Ever since he built the house he knew something seemed missing from it. Now that he thought about it, he had never _had _any need for one because he never had visitors apart from his dad, who seemed content to stand and loom over him whenever he visited. But that was not the point, a villain had to have a meeting room. "No." Vector admitted dejectedly. "I don't."

Anita's left eyebrow raised ever so slightly, it would have been impossible to detect. She was very good at containing her emotions behind a staunch face of indifference, but this man was extremely confusing and now frustrating. A great villain without a meeting room? The idea seemed silly. Yes, she admitted to herself, she didn't have one, but she was not a true villain yet. But she had already designed her lair in her head, and the second room she had finalised after her bedroom was the meeting room.

"Never mind." She said, betraying a little bit of her frustration in her tone. She surmised the computer assistant would be able to pick this up easily, but Vector wouldn't. She was still unsure how the computer would fit into all of this, if she were completely honest. She sat at the sofa instead. It was comfortable.

"So…" Vector asked awkwardly, still invisibly anchored to the spot where he stood.

"Yes, of course." Anita answered him. "I'm here to seek allegiance with you."

Vector coughed and spluttered as he felt the wind rush out of his lungs at her sudden calm revelation. This beautiful young woman was seeking allegiance with him? So she was a villain? His brain back flipped in his head as he tried to work out what this meant for him. "Really…" he replied shakily.

Anita's eyes flashed at the red lights around the room. Now aware they were cameras, she felt a little strange that each eye was directly upon her and not looking at other parts of the room.

"So, um…" Vector muttered. "Why?"

"Oh, of course, because you stole the moon!" Anita smiled brightly. "You are a great man."

Vector smiled and sunk his head into his shouldered shyly, and he waved a hand at her. "Well… I did." He lied.

"I heard it was taken from you though." Anita interposed after a couple of seconds.

Vector had already thought of a reply, he had thought of many if he had to answer for his crimes or faced mockery from his peers. "No no, I put it back."

Anita raised her eyebrows. To Vector it was a look of shock, but to her, and perhaps the computer, it was really a look of indignation. "Really?" she asked curiously. Vector nodded, he had now walked closer to her.

"Yeah, I realised it was going to get bigger again, so to stop the world from getting destroyed I put it back, see."

"Wow, a hero!" Anita said with amazement. Vector smiled again.

"So, Miss…"

"Oh, I am Anita." Vector was close enough to offer her hand to him for him to shake. He eyed it uncomfortably for a second, then he shook it and quickly withdrew his hand back to the safety of his personal space.

"I am Vector." Vector said coolly. His confidence seemed to increase.

"Oh I know who you are." She said with a big toothy grin, one a fan would give to their hero upon extending a piece of paper for them to autograph. Vector giggled like a kid, and Anita inside felt a little pang of disgust. Clearly he found her very attractive, and Anita knew this would be the key to get what she needed. So she would exploit it.

"So… Miss Anita." Vector said coolly again. "What did you have in mind?"

Anita saw in the corner of her eye one of the red camera lights blink. "Lets discuss this in public, it's safer that way you see!" Anita said turning away to leave. "You never know who could be listening in, there could be spies everywhere and this is sensitive information." Vector followed her as he hummed agreement with her.

**xxxxxx**

"It's really busy today." Michael said to Theo loudly over the din of the busy square. The place was packed with businessmen and women making their way to the cafes and restaurants for their lunchtime breaks. Theo nodded, and placed a finger on his left cheek, a sign for Michael to begin his task of stealing a watch. Theo was unable to participate this time, because it was so busy he had to keep Charlie close by. Michael, despite his age, was very capable of looking after himself in sticky situations. They looked very out of place though, and some businessmen eyed Theo and Charlie warily.

Theo always felt sickened at their complete ignorance as to why 3 young children, as dirty and dishevelled looking as they were, would be on their own. No one ever seemed to take notice they were obviously not at school today, and looked like they would fit perfectly in a 19th century European city as vagabond children, who were treated no better than stray animals. Theo thought society had moved on since then, but apparently not.

"You okay buddy?" Theo said as he knelt down to be level with Charlie

Charlie nodded rapidly, he didn't mind crowds but he kept getting bumped occasionally and it irritated him. "We won't be here too much longer OK?" Theo smiled. Charlie nodded again, smiling back.

Theo felt a tug on his arm and he stood up and faced the direction of the tug. His brother was standing there, smiling triumphantly. "I got a nice one!" he said.

Theo nodded and grabbed Charlie and Michael, it would not be long before the victim discovered what happened and began to shout. Theo lead them both towards the road, using the skyscrapers that loomed over them as waypoints. They were too short and the square was too busy for them to see where it was. The tallest one was where the road was, and Theo walked towards it.

Theo gritted his teeth, and looked at his brother Michael. Their eyes widened as they heard a man shouting some ways behind them. A few in the crowd looked in the direction of the noise and gasped. "I've been robbed!" he shouted. Theo gulped and they tried to make their way inconspicuously towards the road. A few people eyed them with even more suspicion now, they looked vastly out of place for such a rich business district and many put two and two together. Theo picked Charlie up and patted Michael on the back three times. That was the signal to run.

**xxxxx**

Vector and Anita walked down the streets of the downtown area silently for now. They hadn't said much, occasionally Vector, like a child, would stop and see something in a window and he would point it out to her. It was almost like he saw her as a friend, and they were having a day out together.

Anita was slightly taken aback that Vector did not have transport, which meant they had to walk to a decent place to talk about the plans. She was more so about his casual nature, he seemed indifferent to the fact their purpose here was to discuss villainy and everything that they had to plan. She had to talk to him out of the watchful eyes of the computer assistant, but this was far beyond her intentions.

"Hey, check out that model boat." Vector said as they passed a toyshop. Anita nodded, pretending to be interested. "I used to make these as a kid. Back in the day." He said with a hint of longing in his voice.

"Yes, that's interesting. Perhaps we could… find somewhere to discuss what we need to do?" Anita pressed, wanting to get to the point.

"Oh… of course." He said disappointedly. "Name the place and we'll go there."

"I know a good place." Anita said, and she lead them both onwards through the busy streets. It was about 1.30 pm, the sun was blazing in the sky but thankfully the streets they walked were quite shaded, Vector would be sweltering in his warm up suit, Anita thought. The sight of a sweaty nerd was not high on her scale of attractiveness.

They walked on further for a few minutes, until Vector stopped to look at yet _another _shop window. He smiled as he checked out some more toys, this time remote control cars of varying types. Some were bigger and more aggressive looking that others, and Anita noted Vector was looking at the sleeker ones. A crowd of business men stood about near them and discussed the turmoil in the markets. Anita felt half inclined to let Vector in the shop and look around, her feet were starting to hurt. If he had any idea they'd be walking everywhere, she wouldn't have worn high heels. She at least knew in future not to, though.

A crowd of children walked into the shop just behind them, and Anita smiled at them all excitedly going into the toyshop, chirping loudly in conversation with their friends. They had clipboards and pens, no doubt on a field trip of some kind.

"Listen, can we make a move now?" Anita asked Vector. He didn't answer, so she turned to him. His face was contorted into something akin to a man who had just seen a ghost. "Vector?"

He scurried away and hid just past the pane glass window of the store, his breathing was fast and his chest heaved. Anita was a little worried by this, not for him, but at his actions. They were erratic and much different than the laid back casual indifference he normally espoused as they made their way about the town.

"What is it?" she asked when she noticed some of the businessmen noticed his unusual behaviour.

"In.. the store." He pointed. She glanced in and saw all of the schoolchildren milling around, taking notes on clipboards or inspecting the toys gleefully.

"What?" she asked with confusion.

"That girl. It's…" he said without breath, "It's her!"

Anita looked in again, she saw several girls, but they all looked perfectly normal. Certainly not to make a grown man act like he was being stalked by a demon.

"What are you talking about?" Anita pressed, wincing as a car honked it's horn and an exchange of road rage rang out in the street.

"The girl… with the glasses. It's her!" Vector said exasperatedly. Anita looked into the store again, and search for this girl wearing glasses. After a couple of seconds, her eyes fell onto a happy looking girl with brown hair and a ponytail, wearing a green jacket and black t-shirt with a tartan skirt. Her mouth moved as she spoke to her friends, her eyes were friendly and Anita wondered what kind of girl would cause this reaction in Vector, especially when she looked… well, normal.

"What…? Her?" She pointed. Vector peeked around to see her and he quickly with as the girl looked up, perhaps sensing she was being watched. Vector nodded. The girl looked up at Anita who was looking at her. Anita and the girl looked at each other for a second, and then, suddenly, the girl smiled and waved at her. Anita smiled and waved back, and the girl continued on her way about the store again.

"Who is she?" Anita asked as she walked over to Vector, who had walked a little further down the street.

"She… she's the one who I have to get to." He said distantly.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Anita asked, becoming a little uneasy.

"Her father… he's my enemy. He said, though not speaking to her but to himself. It was as though he was deep in thought. Anita glanced back over to the shop.

Just then, Vector yelped as he was knocked into by a boy who had been running. Anita gasped and looked at him. His fierce emerald green eyes looked shocked and wary as he stared at her, his blond hair tattered and messy. "Hey…" Vector said as he picked himself up off of the floor. Another boy who was carrying yet _another_, came skidding to a halt next to the blonde one, similarly out of breath. This boy was older and he carried a black haired boy in his arms. They were both out of breath and looked scared. Anita knelt down and offered her hand to the blonde boy, who ignored her and got up quickly. The blond rubbed his lead and his head, and he glanced up at the person he collided with, ostensibly holding them to blame for the collision.

"Hey… I know you." The blonde said as he locked eyes with Vector. Vector looked suddenly very pale. The boy's voice was husky and young, but sounded as fierce as his emerald eyes looked.

Vector smiled sheepishly.

"Michael, we gotta get outta here." The eldest said raspily.

Anita saw just up the street, from the same direction the boys had come from, someone was walking rapidly, asking people he passed something. He looked angry. Anita glanced down at the boys, who noticed too. In that moment, the man asked another stranger, who pointed in their direction, and the man began to run towards them. A glance of apprehension switched between the eldest boy and Michael, and Anita realised why they were scared.

In that instant, the man caught up with them and stopped. His face was contorted with rage, and he loomed over the 3 boys.

**.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**.**

**Well, it's been a while since I updated, apologies if anyone thought I'd vanished. I hope you are all enjoying the story so far! Thank you for the kind reviews, I hope this chapter meets everyone's expectations and did not fail to deliver excitement and move the story onwards. As always reviews, comments and criticisms are most welcome. Hope you are all looking forward to the next chapter!**


	7. Chapter 6: So, what's the plan?

**Chapter 6**

**Boys Will Be Boys**

Lunchtime in a downtown area can be pretty chaotic. Streets outside skyscrapers and tall office buildings full of thousands of workers suddenly find themselves full of people taking lunch at the same time. Coffee shops and bakeries are rammed with the workers, as the employees of those eateries find themselves rushed off their feet trying to fill up paper cups with coffee or wrap subs in paper. Street cleaners face a huge mess to clean at the end of the day, emptying bins and cleaning up the pavements with dropped food. The roads are filled with cars of some of the more well off businessmen and managers deciding to find quieter restaurants of more class with which to impress clients or partners.

Yes, the hustle and bustle of a downtown area at lunchtime is a cacophony of noise and activity. Some people enjoy the atmosphere, but many do not. Especially when these times often attract unsavoury characters that take advantage of the crowds to pickpocket and escape unseen. The city can be rife with it.

None knew this more than a particular businessman in one of the busiest squares in the area. If you have ever gone to look at your wristwatch to check the time, or put your hand in your pocket to take out your wallet and find it missing, you may understand the emotions that flood through your brain. Many will never see their items again, the culprit lost in the sea of people in front of you.

Unfortunately for 3 boys who had tried their luck they were not lost in the crowd; their brief moment of luck was dashed when the man they stole from started shouting. If you were three scruffy children who had no adult with you in a mass of suit wearing businessmen, you would look quite out of place. Naturally, people in the crowd would suddenly notice how much you stand out when a man is shouting he has been robbed. But to be foolish and run in a fit on panic, that would only confirm the crowds suspicions. They were seen running, and consequently they were chased.

The rough panting of the victim staring over his robbers was the only thing the boys could hear, despite the chaos around them. Each sharp intake of rage filled breath reverberated in their minds. Theo and Michael especially wondered what was going to happen next.

"I found you miserable brats. Give it back." The man snarled. Vector and Anita watched the man's eyes flit between the three of them, Vector more bemused than anyone since he was currently sitting on the floor, having been knocked down by a running blonde kid called Michael.

Michael smiled awkwardly. "What watch, Mister?" His attempt at sounding innocent was pitiful; in fact it was almost blatantly obvious he was guilty. Vector grabbed himself up off the floor, and he sidestepped the boy, trying desperately to keep as close to the wall as possible. It was as though if Vector were any closer to Michael he might be swallowed up by a huge ravine just millimetres from his feet.

"Don't like to me, you little punk. Give me back my watch!" the man roared. People walking past were taking notice of the scene now. Vector began to worry about the class in the model shop just two doors down. Margo could very well catch him in public, and that would not do.

Not only did he have to stealthily avoid being noticed, he needed to find out which school she went to. No doubt Gru would have changed their ballet classes, so he assumed the school was the best place to find out where the girls lived. Vector remembered the venomous anger seething out of Gru almost like an electrical storm, the man would go to any lengths to protect them. So, he had to be very careful, and not let himself be seen.

"Anita, we have to go, now." He said, sounding nasal and panicked. Anita gave him a sideways look, not understanding why he seemed desperate to escape.

"Hey, get off him!" Theo shouted. The angry businessman had lunged at Michael and held him up by his hood, and was rifling through his pockets. Theo attempted to grab his brothers flailing legs in order to drag him away from the man. Vector saw the little black haired boy starting to whimper at the scene developing in front of him. His eyes then flicked to a small silver item in the tallest boys back pocket just hanging out, as he struggled with the businessman and shouted at him.

"I want my watch you little thieves! I'll call the cops!" he bellowed. Vector noticed a few people watching from across the street and near them, and he panicked as a girl came out of the model shop and pointed towards them, an older person following soon after. He presumed this was the teacher. Against his better judgement, and in a split second, Vector stepped forward, and swiped the watch from Theo's pocket without him noticing.

"Excuse me sir," he said, trying to get a hold of the situation, "is this yours?"

Vector held up a silver watch. It looked quite nice, no doubt it was expensive from the mirror sheen of its glass face and polished silver strap, and not including the sheer weight of it. In that moment, the man, the tallest boy and the blonde haired boy were statuesque and each had their moths gawping. "I found it on the floor in the street over there." Vector said, pointing ahead of him in the direction ahead of him.

"Uh, yes. That is mine. Thank you." The man looked at Michael for a second, then awkwardly put him down. Michael adjusted his hood and brushed himself down, panting lightly. The man grabbed the watch from Vector and put it in a pocket inside his suit jacket. He gave Michael and Theo a dark and terrifically venomous look, probably still holding them in suspicion, and the businessman walked off without another word.

Vector, Theo and Michael sighed heavily. Theo and Michael looked at each other confusedly, wondering what had just happened. Vector on the other hand was trying to usher away a bemused Anita. As they started walking across the road, Michael shrugged at Theo. The three boys watched the two walk down the street and Theo sighed again.

"Good job for saying thank you. That guy saved your butt." Theo chided his younger brother, and comforted Charlie who looked a little frightened.

Michael shrugged again. "Oh well. Not like we'll ever see him again." Theo frowned at him. "Besides, now what are we gonna do? We don't have a watch, and there's no way I'm gonna do that again! How are we gonna get the money?"

"Look… I don't know." Theo huffed. He glanced over where the man with the big nose and his girlfriend wandered off to and could just make out his odd orange clothing in the crowd. Theo looked down at Michael. "Lets go. We are going to say thank you. Manners cost nothing, little brother."

Michael gawped at his brother and held out his hands in protest. "Are you serious?" he asked dismally.

"Theo always says we gotta be polite to people, Michael." Charlie added. His voice sounded almost parental. Theo gave a little chuckle at Michaels suddenly folded arms and deep frown and slightly pouted bottom lip. Theo grabbed his younger brothers hood and began to drag him down the street, Michael neither resisting now making it easy for Theo either. But Michael knew, when his oldest brother was determined to do something, nothing would stop him.

**xxxxx**

Vector and Anita arrived at a small café and sat down. Anita had waited long enough, questions were swimming in her head and as much as she wanted to believe this man would be her ally and partner in crime, the events of today seemed to have dashed that hope completely. Perhaps he could redeem himself.

The café was small and rustically themed, like many café's in this part of town. They were in the older district of downtown; it was affectionately called "Crumbleville" by the locals due to it's worn looking 1900's art deco buildings and street lights.

"What would you like to drink?" Vector asked confidently. This shook Anita slightly, since he seemed to have only two attitudes. Indifferent and casual, or aware of how out of depth he is with what is going on around him. Confident Vector was new to her, apart from his little outburst at his house. She brushed that off as showing off, but he had shown confidence again. He was intriguing, to say the least. He was a conundrum to a woman like her, who considered herself quite apt at sussing out character traits and flaws in an instant.

"Nothing. Now we have found somewhere quiet we can discuss things." She said calmly. She tried to be serious about everything. To her, everything was serious, at least as far as her dealings with Vector were concerned. It irked her but he didn't seem to notice.

"I'll get you a mocha latte? Everyone likes those." He said as he began to stand up.

Anita slapped the table slightly and frowned. "Listen, Vector. We are here to discuss important matters, not dally around having coffee. Now, we will talk." She breathed heavily after her little outburst, and Vector sat down in obedience.

"Good. Now… why were you so desperate to get away from those boys?" she began her interrogation. "Why did you help them? Clearly they stole that man's watch."

"Well, because I didn't think they did." He lied.

"I saw you grab the watch out of the older kid's pocket. Tell me why. Be truthful, we are going to be partners. If I can't trust you how are we going to be able to do what I have in mind?" Anita said with conviction. Vector nodded like a naughty puppy. Anita had lost almost all confidence with this, and her life's dream of becoming a villain, not only to pay for her student loan but also to get some infamy, looked to be as within reach as the nearest galaxy.

Vector sighed. "You're right. Ok." He began. "The girl in there, like I said before near that model shop, her dad is my enemy."

Anita listened. "Those kids just… I dunno I was reminded of this moment in my childhood so I helped him out. I wasn't thinking. I hate that kid, he's mean."

Anita ignored this comment but smiled and nodded, trying to egg him on to continue. He did.

"He cost me a lot. And I wanna get him back." Vector seemed quite bitter. Anita noted this, vengeful people are quite easy to manipulate if needed.

"Like revenge?" she asked with feigned innocence.

"Kinda. You aren't a full-fledged villain yet." Vector explained. "In our world, us villains are always at each others throats, trying to get one over. At lot of your reputation rests on how awesome your heists are, or how you get back at rivals. Well he beat me this time and I wanna get him back. He took a lot away from me, and I wanna take away a lot from him."

"I see…" Anita nodded. "You seem to have a lot to teach me."

Vector sighed but didn't nod. he seemed distant now and was playing with the tomato ketchup bottle on their table as a distraction.

"Well, to be honest I am kind of shocked you came to me. Surely you've seen the news."

Anita raised her eyebrows a little. "Yes, I have."

"And I'm guessing you saw what they said."

"You said they were lying and you gave the moon back." Anita pointed out.

"Ok, you want honesty. That was a lie. I took the shrink ray off of Gru after he stole it from North Korea. I was going to use it myself to steal the moon instead of him, but he found me. I kidnapped his daughters as a trade, I take the moon and I give him his daughters back." Anita was silent through this story, noting everything.

"But, I was arrogant and I said I'd keep his daughters and I went against out deal. But then the guy went crazy and did everything he could to get them back. He blew up my ship, got me stranded on the moon, and worse…" Vector cut himself off before he could admit his dad had cut him off. That was the worst part of all.

"You kidnapped his daughters?" Anita asked with mild surprise.

"Yes. You do what you gotta do." He admitted.

"Well… I appreciate the honesty. So that girl knows you then…"

"Yeah, if she saw me I doubt I'd ever see her again. I don't remember where their dad Gru lives, I've tried to find him in my aunt's computer database at the orphanage he adopted them from but he covered his tracks." Vector managed to spill a little ketchup on his warm up suit and he huffed. "So I'm trying to find other ways of locating him. He's pretty sneaky."

"Well… how about we make a deal. I'll help you find him, if you help me?" Anita smiled.

"Deal." Vector said without hesitation. "What is your plan?"

Anita's smile widened. "Oh… it's a big plan. The biggest in history actually."

Vector pondered this. "Bigger than the moon?" he asked with a little disbelief.

"Bigger. It'll put us both on the map."

Just before Anita could begin to explain her plan, she noticed someone standing behind Vector, and she glanced over his shoulder. Vector followed her vision, and, to his horror, the blonde boy was standing behind him with his arms folded.

**xxxxx**

It seemed that there was an eternal pause. The blonde haired boy stood there awkwardly shuffling as Vector blindly stared at the child. Eventually Vector came out of his stupor, punctuated with a rather girly "Gah!" and a pitiful flail of arms.

"Wha- what are y-you doing here?" Vector asked, trembling a little.

Anita watched the little scene with bafflement. The buy shrugged. "I gotta."

"Gotta… what?" Vector asked carefully, regarding the child with extreme caution, as if he would explode if talked to incorrectly.

"I gotta." The boy shuffled again while looking at the floor with his emerald green eyes, and he seemed uncomfortable being there. Probably as much as Vector. Then, out of nowhere, he ran out of the café without another word. Vector scoffed and then wheezed with relief. The café doorbell rang and the door clunked closed.

"What was that all about?" Anita asked. Vector seemed withdrawn again. He was thinking about how he had met this blonde haired kid not two days ago, and how he sized him up and called him a geek. Vector shuddered at the thought of having to deal with a child that up front. He reminded Vector of a sarcastic and rebellious girl in her pink beanie hat too much.

"I have no-" he began, before the doorbell rang again. Vector glanced around, and there he was again, looking rather sheepish. But this time it was far worse, for his older and younger companion were with him again, the elder holding onto his hood. The eldest spotted Vector and made his way to him, dragging the blonde haired lad with him.

"Uh…" was all Vector could say as the three young men stood next to him. The eldest folded his arms and stared at the blonde. Anita gave a little chuckle. She had a good idea what was about to unfold and the scene was amusing.

"Well?" the older boy asked after a disconcerting pause.

"… thank." The blonde haired kid said with a mumble.

"Huh?" Vector inhaled sharply and confusedly.

"And the rest Mike." The eldest said with a slight punch to the blondes arm.

"Thank you for saving my ass." The blonde kid said mutedly.

"Mike!" Theo grunted. Michael smiled at him gleefully and shrugged as if to say "What ya gonna do about it?"

"Uh… that's okay." Vector said with puzzlement. He adjusted his glasses, and went back to playing with the ketchup bottle again.

"May I ask your names?" Anita asked sweetly.

"Oh great now his girlfriends talking to us." The blonde said again. A loud and disgusting squelch punctuated the awkwardness of that comment as Vector had just successfully covered his lap with a large amount of ketchup, his knuckles pure white and his fingers gripped tightly around the squashed bottle.

Anita waved her arm casually, trying her best to ignore the puddle of red stodgy liquid forming underneath Vector as he tried, childishly and desperately to scrape it off of his lap without anyone noticing. Michael giggled. "He's not my boyfriend, more of a colleague. So, what are your names?"

Theo smiled at her. "I'm Theodore, but Theo for short." He grabbed the hood of Michael who had decided to try to put his hands into the ketchup, thankfully Theo got to him before he did.

"This…" he added with a harsh but playful slap round the back of his head, "is my little brother Michael." Michael frowned at his name being mentioned.

"And this is Charlie, my youngest brother." Theo finished. Charlie smiled sweetly and absently at Anita, and her smile mirrored his. "What's yours?"

"I'm Anita!" she smiled. "Do you know Victor?" she was careful to not use his villain name.

"No we don't, we bumped into him two days ago near his house but other than that, no." Theo said. Anita noted his maturity for a kid who couldn't be older than twelve years old.

"Can I ask you boys something?" Anita asked after a short pause, wondering the point of them being here other than to say sorry since that had been gotten out of the way now, coupled with the fact that Vector didn't know them personally, their behaviour seemed a little unusual.

Charlie looked up at his older brother, then to Vector curiously as Vector struggled to clean up the mess on the floor. Michael laughed at him more, and Vector grunted at the child mocking his predicament.

"Sure." Theo nodded.

"Why did you steal that mans watch?" Theo looked at her suspiciously now, and he seemed to be on guard. His sudden change in demeanour brought about a change in Charlie's as well, he now stood behind his oldest brother. Michael ignored their conversation, content to laugh at Vector and throw bits of napkin paper at him while he cleaned.

"I'm not gonna answer that, Miss."

"Fair enough." Anita said. Not one to judge, she was a thief too. Though she questioned why three children and young as they were would be out doing this sort of stuff.

"Hey, where's all the ketchup gone out of your lap?" Michael asked with awe. He pointed at Vector's pants. There was no gloopy red mess or stain. Vector smiled arrogantly.

"Well… _kid,_" Vector began with pride, "my suit cleans itself. It's cool huh?"

"Yeah…" Michael said with a whistle.

"Made it myself. I'm an inventor. I make all these cool things. I also," Vector leaned in closer and glanced around the café, "made a gun that shoots octopuses at peoples faces. Oh yeah!" he said thrusting his hips around.

Michael gasped again. "That's stupid." He said harshly. Vector's little moment of awesomeness vanished and in his mind a heavy clang of metal was the sound of his pride crumbling into shards.

"It is not!"

"Yes it is. Octopuses can't breathe out of water so they'll die."

"Nuh uh, I made this… wait I forgot to add that part." Vector mumbled, conceding defeat to an 8 year old.

"Listen, Victor…" Anita said suddenly. "Can we get back to business?"

"Uh… wait!" Vector said as the boys turned to leave, taking the hint. "I have an idea."

Theo looked at him for a second, and Anita huffed at the impossibility of her simple desire to talk to him about their plans, which was the whole point of being there. It frustrated her no end.

"You three wanna make some money?" Vector asked coolly with a slight adjustment of his glasses. The three boys stood there for a second, unsure what to say. As was usual, it was Michael who spoke first.

"How much orange suit wearing guy?" he asked with a hint of giddiness.

"Twenty bucks. All ya gotta do is talk to someone." Vector smiled. Anita put her frustrations to the back of our head and listened intently wondering what Vector was up to. Theo was about to accept when:

"Nah, I'll do it for a hundred though." Michael said casually. Theo

"WHAT? One hundred! You gotta be kidding me!" Vector spluttered, overwhelmed at the confidence this boy oozed.

"Hey, we gotta eat." Michael laughed as if it was a trivial affair. Anita decided she really liked these three kids, they were streetwise and clever, and Charlie was adorable even though he hadn't said a word.

"Fine… one hundred." Vector finished. Michael smiled slyly as Vector pulled out his wallet. In it was a wad of notes, and Michael and Theo looked at it with deep interest, Anita noticed.

"What do you want us to do?" Theo asked after managing to avert his gaze from the wad of notes Vector was counting.

"Talk to a girl who is with a class on a school trip… I think." Vector said absently as he counted notes.

"What?" Michael asked. "All that for $100? That's dangerous, better make it $200." He chuckled.

"Don't push your luck." Theo said with another slap to the back of the head.

"Who is she?" Theo asked.

"Her name isn't important. Just find out what school she goes to and this c note is yours." Vector said after holding one up to tempt them. Michael raised his hand slightly with the thought of grabbing it, as if he was drawn to it as a weak sailor would be drawn to the songs of the Sirens.

"S.o… that's it?" Theo asked again.

Charlie hummed a little tune to himself and observed the older people talking and eating in the café.

"Yeah. Come back here, I'll be here until 3pm so you've got an hour and a half to find her." Vector finalised their agreement.

"Ok, we'll get right on it… as soon as you tell u what the person we are looking for looks like maybe?" Theo asked with sarcasm, mocking Vector's oversight.

'Yeah… of course." He sighed. He had been mocked far to often by children lately and it made him feel stupid. "We wears a skirt, has brown hair in a pony tail and wears glasses like mine but more rectangular and a lot smaller."

"Yeah, your glasses are huge." Michael said with a pointing finger. Vector scoffed and looked back at Anita.

"Run along now puny children." Vector waved his hand at shoo them away, and the boys left promptly.

"Well… that was interesting." Anita said plainly.

"Yes." Vector said absently. "Now… what is your plan then?" he said getting straight to the point. Finally Anita had been given a break.

**xxxxx**

The lunchtime craze had died down now, thankfully. The boys walked around silently for a few minutes looking out for this mystery girl. They had to look out for a crowd of children, and in a city they weren't a common sight so that shouldn't be a problem.

Theo had decided now was the time to talk to Michael.

"Hey, Mike." He said as Charlie pointed out a girl who looked nothing like the girl they were after.

"Mm?" Michael said as he held his hand up to his forehead to survey the shops like a scout.

"Did you see how much money that guy had?"

"Yeah, a lot."

"And we know where he lives." Theo said with thought.

"So?" Michael said half listening, as a couple of girls had left a shop and they caught his attention. Sadly they didn't look like they were the one the boys were looking for.

"So… we could stick with him. Maybe he has more jobs for us?" Theo said as it if should have been obvious.

"Could do. Up to you big bro, you're the boss and stuff, right?" Michael had a tendency to talk as if he was a lot older than his actual age. Often it put adults right out of their comfort zone, but to Theo it was completely natural.

Theo smiled. "The boss… if you say so. Some of your ideas have been good."

Adults chatting outside shops largely ignored the boys, except when they stood close to them. Michael had stopped them in their tracks as he had just seen a crowd of children going into a shop. Unfortunately for them a man standing outside a shop smoking had seen their proximity as an invasion of personal space and decided to complain to them in a language they didn't understand.

Michael poked his tongue out at the man who then flew into a tirade of gibberish and the boys wandered off, not wanting to attract more unwanted attention.

"They went in there, lets check it out." Michael said as he ran ahead. Theo didn't run any faster as Charlie was complaining about a sore foot so they walked at a casual pace. Theo noticed Michael staring into the shop window and he caught up.

"She's there! That's her!" Michael pointed. Theo slapped his hand down.

"Mike don't make it obvious we are looking for her, we've got to act normal." He said with a little exhaustion.

"Oh… sorry." Michael chuckled.

"Why are we following a girl Theo?" Charlie asked, one of the only things he had said all day.

"Oh, because that Victor guy asked us to." Theo said with a smile. Charlie accepted this with a nod and resumed his quiet observations of his surroundings.

"What shall we do big brother?" Michael asked after they had stepped out of view.

"Well that store is a girls clothing store, we can't go in there and start talking to her," Theo noted, "it'll be too suspicious."

Michael nodded. "So we wait for her to come out?"

"Yeah." Theo said after thinking of something. "We can follow them into another store and I'll bump into her and pretend I recognise her and ask which school she goes to."

"That's a good idea." Michael nodded.

"I'm hungry." Charlie said quietly.

Theo and Michael exchanged glances and they sighed.

"I know little bro, just a bit longer and we'll get you some food." Theo said rustling his hair.

"You haven't told him Ike said we can't eat?" Michael said dimly.

"No… but if we get that hundred dollars we can get some." Theo winked, and Michael smiled wryly at him. Theo was not going to let Ike find out about the hundred dollars, that way they could eat and he wouldn't know. They could give him the change and everything would be fine. Theo smiled. Things were going well today.

The girls trotted out of the store, all of them about the same age as Theo, perhaps a year younger at the most. "You can't let them see us Theo, or she'll know you don't go to school." Michael pointed out with a whisper as the girls walked past them.

"I know, just stay close with Charlie and it'll be fine. Look! They are going into that shop there, let's go!" Theo said with purpose. "Charlie, stay with Mike okay little buddy?"

Charlie nodded. "…'kay."

"Come on little bro." Michael said after a couple of seconds, giving Theo time to get ahead of them.

"You and Theo are gonna get in trouble." Charlie said after a few seconds. Michael ignored him and didn't respond, but it did get him thinking. Charlie was a quiet kid, what sort of stuff did he take note of? Was he more observant than he seemed?

"Oof!" a girl squeaked after bumping into someone. Her clipboard clattered to the ground. She reached down to pick it up but noticed someone had beat her to it.

"Here you go." Theo said smiling at her.

"Oh, thank you." The girl with the pony-tailed brown hair said. She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and took it off of him, smiling gratefully.

She turned to walk off but Theo stopped her. "Hey, I recognise you. Are you at my school?"

The girl looked around for a second and then turned to face him. "Uh, I don't think so. I've never seen you before, I know most of the people at my school, unless you are new." She said. Her voice was kind sounding and motherly. She adjusted her thin-rimmed glasses and squinted at Theo, trying to work out if she did know him or not.

"I go to… Oberville Middle School." Theo said after a moment of thought.

"Oh, no I don't go there." The girl said casually. Theo hoped she would have said where she _did _go by now, but she just stood there, perhaps expecting him to make small talk? Suddenly Theo felt a little out of his depth and he felt uncomfortable.

"Oh, I guess you look like someone who goes to my school then." Theo said. He noticed Michael standing outside the window with his back to him, which pressured Theo and made him lose a little bit of his cool.

"Oh, fair enough. Anyway I…" the girl said after a few seconds, motioning to rejoin her class.

"Say, what school do you go to then? You might know some of my friends!" Theo said a little excitedly as the thought came into his head. The girl looked at him for a second as if he was odd, but then she smiled.

"I go to St. Lowe Middle School." She answered.

Theo had done it, and he felt relief. He didn't exactly feel like a super spy who had pried information about a doomsday weapon, but the feeling was not far off. He smiled to himself. "The school for gifted children?" Theo asked with interest. "I don't know anyone from there." He said.

If he left the store by then it would have seemed extremely suspicious to suddenly end a conversation like that, so he made a little more small talk.

"Oh okay, I don't know anyone from Oberville either." She said calmly. She looked at her clipboard then back at him, as if trying to encourage him to talk more. Theo again felt a sudden tide of discomfort surge over him. Was she really willing him to talk more? Why? He felt his forehead prickle as a small amount of sweat began to form.

"So…" he said awkwardly. "What are… you doing?"

"Oh! I'm on a field trip." She said with a grin. "Are you?"

"Oh no I'm not." He said. The girl raised an eyebrow at him and then he realised he was not at school where he should be. "Uh… I got the day off today because my teacher was sick and there isn't a replacement."

The girl's eyebrow lowered and she seemed to accept this, to Theo's relief. An older persons voice had called the class together. "Anyway, I better go. Was nice talking to you." She said warmly, turning to join her class.

"Yeah, same." Theo nodded. "What's your name?"

The girl turned back to face him and she said, "Oh! How silly of me. My name is Margo. Yours?"

"Theo." He replied.

"Nice to meet you Theo." She said cordially.

"You too. See you around maybe!" Theo decided it would be much cooler if he trotted off before she did. He felt himself smiling as he did so, but was unsure why. He hadn't noticed the girl, Margo, doing the same thing as she rejoined her classmates.

"So?" Michael asked.

Theo raised his hand and slowly scrunched up his fingers into a fist. Michael looked at him dolefully until his thumb popped up. "I did it."

"Yes! $100 smackers and lots of pizza here we come!" Michael grinned.

"Lets go get the money." Theo said with pride and giddiness, and the three of them made their way back to Vector.

The boys walked for a few minutes towards the café, and Michael whistled a tune as they did. He seemed to be trying to break the silence, and Theo felt awkward for it. He felt a little uneasy about why Vector wanted to know which school this girl wanted to go to. Granted, it was not usual behaviour for a man to offer children money to find out where another child went to school, but they were in need of money badly, and their reward was great. Plus, the girl seemed so friendly and genuinely nice, what could he have against her?

"So…" Michael said suddenly. It broke Theo out of his daydream, his thoughts turning over why he felt so out of depth when talking to that girl, Margo.

"Uh, what?" Theo said haphazardly. Michael smiled wryly.

"You liked her huh."

"What? No. Don't be stupid." Theo blurted out almost immediately after Michael had finished speaking, his face blazing hot.

"Yeah ya did, you gone all red big brother." Michael chided.

"She was cute, but I just wanna get the money and settle the matter with Ike." Both he and Michael had gone deathly quiet upon the uttering of that name. It was like saying a cursed word, it brought uneasiness and ill feeling to those who heard it and knew it well.

"Think we'll be OK?" Michael asked quietly. Theo shot him a sad look, his brother walked slowly with his hands in his pockets, a tell-tale sign that Michael was distant and worried.

"Yeah." Theo said confidently and he placed his hand reassuringly on Michaels shoulder. "We'll be good, little bro."

"You know, when left us with Ike for a few days I thought he'd be nice." Michael said. Theo looked down at the floor and agreed with him. "I wonder why dad never came back."

"Let's not think about that." Theo said, his chest feeling heavy and his mind weary. "We are nearly back at the café."

**xxxxx**

"So… you have a secret society." Vector sipped his drink with a nasty sucking sound. "And you wanna rob it?"

"Yes, basically." Anita nodded, sipping her own drink elegantly.

"How?" Vector asked. The basics of the plan had been outlined, little detail was given to him about the how's and why's, but that would come in time. Anita decided it was better to explain things as they happened and planned for them, instead of trying to cram everything in at once. That was doubly true with Vector's tendency to overlook things or ignore finer details, despite his obvious genius.

"I'll explain in greater detail tomorrow. I think the best thing to do now, is for me to help you get your idea into action and get you the revenge, then we can focus on my plan without hindrance." Anita explained.

"It isn't vengeance." Vector corrected her. "It is just business. I don't mix feelings into my work anymore, it clouds judgement."

Anita smiled behind her mug of coffee; this was a good response she had just been given. Things were looking promising now, she allowed herself to think.

"So, just how much money are we talking here?" Vector asked after a few moments. He placed the menu he had been looking over down.

"Oh…" she pondered, "let's say about 8 zeros?" Anita said with a little relish.

Vector choked on his coffee and nearly spat it out all over her. Anita was there first and had raised her own menu to protect her face from a mixture of coffee and spit. Vector gulped heavily after regaining control of himself.

"That… is a lot." He breathed sharply. He and Anita glared at each other, Vector wondering which of his newest inventions could be used in her heist.

"Yes." Anita said plainly. She noticed Michael and Theo and Charlie were standing behind Vector again.

"Fwah!" Vector screeched loudly, the fifth time today actually. "God, do you kids use a teleporter or something?" He clutched his chest.

"No. Do you have one of those too Mr inventor pants?" Michael laughed.

"Not yet." Vector said smugly. Michael frowned at him and they exchanged looks of annoyance at each other.

Theo cleared his throat. "Her name is Margo, right?"

Vector looked at him, his eyes the size of dinner plates now, twinkling with wonder and anticipation of what was coming next. "Y-yes! Yes it is!" he said.

"$200 and I'll tell you her school." Theo smiled arrogantly. Vector's jaw nearly hit the floor and he babbled unintelligibly. Anita stifled a laugh. These kids were _fantastic. _

"Yeah." Michael nodded. "We risked our necks for this old man."

"How can 20 bucks turn into 200?" Vector asked finally with total lack of comprehension, his jaw still gaping wide and his jaw twitching. His left eyelids quivered a little with the stress of having to pay out kind of money to these children.

"Easily." Theo smiled victoriously, his arms folded and his posture like a true warrior standing over his defeated foe. Charlie grinned at Vector too, but his smile was friendly.

"Fine." Vector huffed deeply. He fished his wallet out and handed Theo a hundred dollar bill, and then he ruffled through the wad of notes again, and handed Theo some more money.

Theo licked his lips. "Thanks." He said eagerly.

"Well boys, I think you've earned yourself a nice wage there." Anita said with a smile. Theo gave her a suspicious look again, but he grinned at her after a second or two.

The boys stood there for a few minutes, Vector resolved to ignore them. Anita simply waited for them to speak, since she knew they were going to.

"I'm hungry." Charlie said after a few minutes more. "Can we eat now?"

"Sure." Theo said warmly. He glanced over to the café counter and quickly browsed the menu.

"Ooh sundae." Vector said while looking through the menu, licking his lips. Anita rolled her eyes at him. She had become tired of him for the day and decided it was time to end the day and go home. She had spent a good three hours with him now, and that was more than anyone should have to bear. "I'm gonna get one." Vector added with glee.

"Me too." Michael said suddenly as he sat down next to Vector.

"Wait… what?" Vector said aghast. Theo pulled up a chair too and sat in it after he placed Charlie in the one next to Anita. "No, no you can't sit with us I don't even know you three!"

"Looks like you've made an impression Vector. Anyway I must take my leave." Anita stood up and curtly nodded at Vector, with Vector looking at her helplessly. "I'll come back tomorrow so we can begin the next phase yes?"

Vector gulped and said yes, he stared into the grinning face of Michael who has sat next to him point at the sundae Vector had ordered.

"Enjoy the sundae." Anita chuckled and left the café.

"So geek boy, or four eyes, or whatever, what toppings ya gonna have?" Michael asked while Theo read through the menu with Charlie. Vector sighed dismally and allowed the weight of his large head to bring his face down onto the table.

"Why me?" he asked no one in particular, his voice muffled and his nose bent out of shape against the table. "First those three Gru brats… now these three…"

**.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**.**

**I've got a fairly big update here ^_^. I don't know if any of you know but I have been drawing quite a bit, and I've decided to do the characters from this story and also draw sneak peeks of other chapters that are coming up. I'll be adding all of them tomorrow, as I am currently finishing the colouring of them. They are in pencil, as I still haven't gotten quite used to my Wacom yet, but when I do I'll be using that. Check out the my DeviantArt page tomorrow (as of the 30****th**** August, as this was uploaded chapter was uploaded on the 29th) and they will all be on there. Right now, there is a concept drawing of Anita on there (I'm not sure if she looks too slutty or not, as I want her to be alluring but not like a tramp, so definitely give me feedback on her!), and a picture of Theo, Michael and Charlie standing together. There are 6 pics I will be adding tomorrow, which are: Michael celebrating, Charlie looking at a toy, and Theo counting money, Anita staring at Vector with a "wtf" face, and Ike smoking a cigar in his office. Let me know what you think of them, and also what you think of this chapter! :-) **

**My deviant art ID is CainyG88 and you can find the drawings in my scrapbook.**


	8. Chapter 7: Silent Promises

**Boys Will be Boys**

**Chapter 7**

Vector returned home with aching feet and a desperately weary expression. It had been an eventful day, he was $200 worse off, and he had gotten somewhere. His weariness was a combination of tiredness from having to deal with those incessantly annoying kids and their devious bid to exploit more money from him, their decision to eat with him when Anita left, and the fact that now he knew which school one of Gru's daughters went to, he could finally find out where he lived, and exact his revenge.

"Welcome back Vector. Want some coffee?" His computer said as he trudged through the door. Vector nodded dismally and the computer set about making his favourite drink. "I have ordered some weapons grade steel as you asked, it will be here tomorrow. But my electronic connection to your dad's bank has been cut off so I had to use your own account."

"I expected as much." Vector sighed indifferently as he collapsed onto the chair. His feet were throbbing terribly, and he did his best to soothe them with some massaging. Vector leant back in the chair after a few minutes and dozed off.

Vector awoke suddenly after sleeping deeply. From the view of his TV screen in it's outside-view screensaver mode, he could see the sun half way on its descent towards the horizon, so he assumed it was about late evening. He saw a cup of coffee sitting on the table just in front of him. He picked it up. It was ice cold but he gulped it down anyway and gave a light belch after he finished. It was still coffee despite it's temperature, and Vector was never one to abandon coffee.

He yawned, which "awoke" his computer. "Good evening." She said casually.

"Hey…" Vector answered tiredly. His neck was aching, probably because it was lolling backwards behind the sofa for an indeterminate period of time while he slept completely unmoving. He cracked it and felt the pain ease off, which let him relax again.

"The shipment of steel will be here soon, fyi." The computer said after a couple of minutes of silence. Vector stifled another yawn and stood up, his back cracking as he did.

"By the way, I've discovered a few things about that Anita girl." The computer said. Vector looked up towards where one of her cameras would be located and gazed at it wearily. The room was getting dark, but he knew the layout like the back of his hand even in the absence of any light at all. It was a shame he wasn't so careful about things he left lying around, as he kicked a particularly heavy sprocket across the floor.

"Maybe you'd be well served to tidy this place up a bit." The computer chided.

"Hey, don't make me remove the personality core I made, smart mouth." Vector said dismally while cradling his foot. The lights flared on and Vector blinked until his eyes adjusted. The computer laughed at him.

"Well, as I was saying," the computer said as Vector made his way to his room, "Anita has some interesting history."

"Really?" Vector asked half heartedly. "I'll find out when she gets here tomorrow. If it's important, I suppose she'd tell me." Vector scratched his large bulbous nose and surveyed his scrap-yard of a bedroom until his eyes settled on a device he had been working on. It looked rusted and the ignorant would assume it was broken, whatever it was. Thankfully Vector was not one of those types of people and could see potential in anything, even a broken engine or half of a copper tube. Anything could be used as something else, if you had the creativity and flair for making cool weapons.

"Well, I will store the data on your computer anyway, should you wanna look at it." The computer said. "Oh, by the way. What is my name? I can't call myself anything, I don't have the creativity drive installed yet."

Vector glanced up and paused his rummaging through a box of scraps of… stuff, and thought about the computers question ponderously.

She really was a marvel of human creation, if Vector did say so himself. He smiled to himself proudly, for he had made a loyal, intelligent and self-aware computer assistant with his own intellect and bare hands. He had given her a self-replicating personality code, so she could learn on an almost human level, but also her personality would reflect the knowledge she had and also situations that she faced. Plus, she would also adapt to conversations as she learnt about everything. Vector was excited to see how things went on, as right now she was still somewhat robotic. He did notice however, that she was slightly sarcastic and had begun to develop a sense of humour. He would install the creativity drive as well soon, perhaps she could help him design new weapons and craft.

Vector pondered. "Evelyn." He said with conviction.

"Evelyn?" she responded thoughtfully, her voice feminine but still somewhat robotic. It wasn't quite so monotone now he had installed the personality drive, but he wanted to tweak that part too.

"Yeah. You know the story of Adam and Eve? Well Eve ate the fruit of knowledge and became aware of stuff, kinda like you I guess. Except your fruit would be that personality drive." Vector explained while rummaging around for some welding goggled. "But, there's this cool robot from a kids film called E.V.E., and people will think I'm not creative to think up a decent name for you, so I'll call you Evelyn, but Eve for short." He chuckled.

"Okay." Evelyn answered. "Evelyn and Eve names have been stored and documented." She seemed content with this name, from what her tone of voice could give away at least. Vector smiled again, a computer showing emotions was unprecedented, and it made him perhaps the greatest inventor of the modern era. Not that he would ever reveal her to the world, he was much to selfish for that.

"I gotta do some work now, so can we cut the chatter? I'm nearly done with this super awesome device so I gotta concentrate." Vector asked while putting on a heavy leather apron and the bulging black goggles he had managed to find.

"Yes, of course." She answered happily. "You seem to have regained your confidence, by the way." She interjected quickly before Vector shut her off.

Vector held his arm up in the air with his hand clasped around a large hammer and did not bring it down. "Really?" he asked thoughtfully. "You noticed? Huh…" He pondered, thinking to himself perhaps she was right.

"Yes, just three days ago you were miserable. I always detected it."

Vector smiled. "Well, it's because the ball is now… _rolling_. Oh yeah!" He bellowed as he brought the hammer down onto a metal plate with a sharp clang. He laughed to himself. Gru was finally going to pay for his interference, and Vector would stand victorious over his arch rival and claim his rightful place as the world greatest villain once again, without his fathers help.

**xxxxx**

It was late evening by the time the boys left the city centre. They had eaten delicious food and were feeling very upbeat. Michael was uncharacteristically cheerful, he was usually pretty sullen and moody, but today he was doing childlike things, like jumping on bags of trash to spill out the contents into the street. Right now though he was kicking a can around and imitating a soccer commentator, who was loudly professing Michael's immense skill and goal scoring abilities with excitement. Charlie as was usual for him quietly followed, occasionally he would glance up at Theo and grin at him or get distracted by a bug.

Michael turned to Theo and shrugged, which made Theo raise his eyebrow questioningly at his younger brother. "What?" he asked. Michael had a slight smile on his face, which made him look mischievous. Theo wondered what thoughts were trawling through his brain.

"Oh… nothin'." Michael said with a hint of humour in his voice.

"No, tell me." Theo insisted impatiently. Michael was up to something.

"I got an idea." He smiled.

"Oh God… what is it? And no, you can't."

"Well why should I tell ya if I can't anyways." Michael smiled. Theo heard Charlie sigh, and he smiled. Charlie was so grown up for his age sometimes. His sigh was obviously a tone of exasperation at his older brother doing what he does best… annoying people or being a typical boy.

"Just tell me, darn it." Theo snapped. A streetlight flickered into life above them and it startled Charlie a little. It buzzed loudly, it almost sounded as if it was going to explode.

"How about…" Mike said with a devilish smile, "we only give Ike a hundred, and go to the arcade tomorrow!"

"Yep… I knew it." Charlie huffed. Theo and Michael looked at him.

Michael threw him a questioning expression and Charlie frowned. "Always getting us into trouble, you are." He said, his 5 year old voice sounding much more authoritative than it perhaps should have. It added a comedic effect to it Theo thought, especially when Michael gazed at him gobsmacked.

"What?" Michael said, his mouth gawping. "I never get us into trouble."

His lie was obvious, and it made Charlie frown more. "You get big brother Theo into more trouble and I'm gonna tell on you!"

Michael chuckled a bit. "Tell who, you silly kiddie."

"I am not a silly kiddie." Charlie insisted with a little stamp of his feet. Michael taunted him more as Theo carried on walking ahead of them.

A man washing his car by the side of the road eyed the boys suspiciously and defensively, and this prompted Michael to blow a raspberry at him jeeringly. Theo frowned. People never really gave them much notice, other than to give them odd looks. They had only ever really had this these last few months, and it annoyed Theo.

His train of thought was derailed when they turned the same corner they always did on their journey home and the tower block loomed over them.

"So…" Michael began suddenly, but didn't finish his sentence.

"So what?" Theo retorted harshly. Michael irritated him when he trailed off. He did it often, and many things about Michael grated on Theo, who was far more mature than his younger brother and it showed.

"So, what you gonna say to Ike?" he asked tentatively. The atmosphere had changed from optimism to foreboding. Theo was slightly worried how Ike would react with them bringing home a large amount of money. Several scenarios ran through his mind as to how Ike would react. Not many of them were good.

"I dunno. The truth?" Theo wondered. Charlie had sat on the kerb next to where Theo was standing, and he was sulking because Michaels taunts.

"That could work." Michael agreed. "But what if he doesn't believe you?"

"I'll have to think of that if it happens." Theo muttered. "Lets just get this over with, I'm tired and I want to sleep."

**xxxxx**

The boys knocked on the door of Ike's office at their usual time to check in and hand over the days "take". As expected he was patiently sat at his desk waiting for them, the smell of acrid smoke hung in the air, and Ike's gargantuan fingers wrapped round a freshly lit cigar.

He stared at the TV screen on his desk and completely ignored the boys' arrival, despite it being announced for them by the door creaking rather loudly. Occasionally he chuckled at what was on the TV. Theo assumed he was watching his usual favourite comedies as he often did around this time. Theo cleared his throat to get Ike's attention. It worked, Ike's piercing eyes flicked from the TV and straight towards him.

Theo heard a deep sigh come from their caretaker.

"Back again I see?" Ike said monotonously. He looked weary, and Theo regarded Ike with wariness, for a tired Ike was often a spiteful Ike.

"Yeah. We did pretty well today." Michael excitedly spoke first, as was usual.

"Good." Ike said indifferently. He didn't seem interested, despite how proud the boys were that they had made an astounding amount of money compared to what they usually earned. Ike's lack of excitement wasn't uncharacteristic, but usually he would smile (if you could even call it a smile) at them, or show some form of gratitude. Today his face was passive. Charlie seemed to pick up on this Theo noticed, as he took his usual spot behind Theo's leg sooner than he usually did in Ike's presence.

Michael too picked up on Ike's coldness, and he attempted to get his attention. "We made over 150 dollars!" Michael exclaimed throwing a fist over his head in celebration. He grinned broadly. Ike didn't pay attention.

"Listen you two," Ike said while pointing at Charlie and Michael, "go upstairs. I gotta talk with your brother."

Theo raised his eyebrow and exchanged an apprehensive look with Charlie and Michael. Michael nodded, however, and left the room promptly with his younger brother.

When the door creaked closed Theo turned to Ike. "What's wrong?" He asked tentatively.

"Well, for starters, I wanna know something." Ike said dolefully. He sat down and took a huge and effortful drag from his cigar. A cloud of smoke from his mouth hid his face momentarily. Theo asked what Ike wanted.

"Well, here's the thing. You see, I don't like being taken for a fool." Ike said, his mood suddenly fierce. He scratched his beard and looked at Theo carefully. Theo felt extremely nervous not knowing what Ike was getting at. He tried to stand still under Ike's weighted gaze. "Where's the other fifty dollars?"

"Uh…" Theo began, but he was lost for words. His mind was racing. How did Ike know they made two hundred dollars but only gave him one hundred and fifty? The potential reasons terrified him.

"Yeah… caught you didn't I." Ike smiled devilishly. His eyes never broke from their intense staring. "I bet you are scared. Wondering how I knew."

Theo gulped. Ike had not moved, and the room was deathly quiet, apart from the occasional crackle of the TV speakers that were on such a low volume it was impossible to discern what Ike may have been watching. There was so much tension in the air it was almost a physical presence in the room with them.

Theo grimaced like a child caught doing something they shouldn't. "I'm… sorry." Theo said quietly.

Ike took another drag on his cigar, and he placed it carefully on a silver ashtray on his desk. "I've got people other than you kids out there, _boy_." Ike said coldly.

Theo nodded. He now realised they were followed, but had no idea. "I bet that sundae was nice, huh?" Ike chided angrily. Theo shuffled awkwardly in reply. "WELL?" He bellowed suddenly. Theo nodded sheepishly.

Ike had calmed in a split second again. "I'll let that fifty bucks slide, IF," he said aggressively, "you tell me what you have planned with that freak in the orange get-up and the honey he was with."

Theo paused to work out what exactly Ike might know about Theo's plans considering they were followed and he knew about the fifty dollars. It was understandable Ike may have picked up other titbits of information from his… spies. He wondered also whether Ike was testing Theo for honesty. He decided that it would be best to be honest, as he and Michael agreed outside moments earlier. The irony was not lost on Theo, however. They would be honest about everything while trying to uphold a lie, a lie that they had been caught out on. So he explained what his plan was, and how it was shaping up.

Theo explained how Victor, or Vector as he had heard Anita call him on occasions seemed very wealthy, and that he had plans with a similarly aged girl to Theo called Margo, that Theo was paid to talk to and find out which school she attended. Theo had the idea that perhaps he and his brothers could be of use to Vector, and maybe get paid more money for doing jobs for him, and they would then give the earnings to Ike. Ike listened quietly from his desk, occasionally taking another puff on his cigar and blowing it towards the ceiling, or nodding while Theo talked.

Theo continued, he told Ike how they had seen Vector leave a very expensive looking house, and perhaps there could be valuable stuff they could sneak out and give to Ike so he could sell it. They also had other potential ideas that they could tell Ike once they found out more about Vector.

Ike nodded and stood up when Theo finished. Theo had gone quiet while waiting for Ike's input. Ike casually regarded Theo for a moment, then he spoke.

"Working a business like this is hard." Ike explained plainly. "You got all these goons who want being paid after they do jobs for me. Sometimes they try to rip me off and don't actually do the job, and sometimes they don't. I gotta keep my eye on them and make sure they pay dearly when they do rip me off you see."

Theo nodded as if he understood. Theo knew Ike was beginning a monologue about something that would probably end in violence towards him. He braced himself and prepared for the incoming pain.

"And then there's you and your god damn brothers, apparently street smart kids who thinks they can outsmart me."

Ike turned to face Theo. His expression was fierce, but he seemed calm. "And then you think _you _can rip me off too. I feed you, clothe you, keep you warm and all I ask in return is a few jobs to help pay your rent." Ike acted like he was hurt by their dishonesty and "theft".

"When your dad left you here he promised you'd behave and be good kids."

Ike mentioning his dad suddenly left Theo reeling, it was something that took him completely by surprise. He felt his chest become heavy with anguish and longing, for his dad had dropped them off to Ike one day saying he was a good friend and would be looking after them for a few days, and then drove off, never to return. He wanted badly to find out what happened, if his dad had died, or just left them with Ike because he wanted nothing to do with them. It kept Theo awake at night often, wondering if he or his brothers did something wrong. Theo often wondered if he did something to deserve their current existence.

Ike saw Theo's pained expression and smiled. "Yeah, you miss him huh?"

Theo looked up, his eyes glistening with tears. He was becoming angry, something he had never felt in Ike's presence before. "Kinda." Theo answered.

"Oh, kinda?" Ike retorted sarcastically. "I guess that's why he never came back, disloyal as you are." He mocked.

"I'm not disloyal." Theo snapped. Ike threw him a haughty look.

"Could have fooled me." He chuckled boomingly. Theo felt something rise within him, something he had always felt but largely ignored. It was his will, the will that he had locked away in the cage of obedience. He felt it break free, and a surge of conviction pulsed through his body. Theo realised waiting for his father to come back for them was pointless. It was unlikely to happen. Not only had their father abandoned them with a horrible crime lord he called a "family friend", he hadn't been in the boys lives much since Charlie was born. He was a dull grey memory to Theo, who had to bring up Charlie on his own while their mother was intensely ill, and also try to reign in Michael's boisterous nature to keep him out of trouble.

Theo realised HE was the man of the family now; his brothers relied on him to make the right decisions and put them first above all else. Especially Charlie who was still so young, and the life he was living in was something Theo now accepted he would have to get him away from no matter the cost. Too long had Theo been content to ride out the storm until their father would return. He found himself realising he didn't care if their father came back. He would never forgive him for leaving them with Ike anyway. Plus, where had he been when their mother died? Somewhere else, the location didn't matter at all. The simple truth was he was not where he should have been, comforting his three sons and telling them it was going to be ok.

So Theo accepted he was the one who would take Michael and Charlie away from this. He vowed to.

"I took that fifty dollars so I could feed my brothers." He answered confidently. "Remember you said we weren't allowed to eat? I had to feed them. Charlie is only 5 years old for God's sake." Theo insisted. Ike still seemed calm enough, despite Theo's raising choler and louder protests.

"You do what you are told." Ike said coolly.

"I gotta look after my brothers, since you wont." Theo answered back arrogantly.

Suddenly Ike was on him. Theo saw a shimmer of movement but felt the sudden shock of being yanked off the floor faster than his brain could process the blur that was Ike grabbing for him. Ike stood straight and held Theo's face up to his own by the scruff of his collar. His face was contorted with fury and he was breathing heavily.

"You listen here, Theo. Your dad… if you could call him that," Ike said from behind gritted teeth, "left me in charge. You do what you are told." His voice was seething with Malice. Theo expected more than this, perhaps being struck a few times as was normal. He didn't care if he was beaten, the pain was temporary and showing Ike he was no longer a pushover would be worth the hurt in the end. For some reason those strikes never came, which surprised him slightly regardless of whether he cared or not.

So Theo didn't answer his caretaker. Instead, he held Ike's gaze defiantly. He felt the left of his mouth quiver into a slight smile. Ike viewed his ward with contempt.

"I'll let you go see that Vector." Ike sighed after a few moments of their intense stare-out. He released his grip from Theo's collar and the kid tumbled to the floor. He hurt his foot on the way down from landing awkwardly.

"Fine." Theo answered audaciously after a couple of minutes of soothing his hurt foot. Ike had sat down at his desk again, and picked up his cigar.

"By the way… smart kid..." Ike jeered abruptly as Theo made for the door. Theo turned around to regard Ike, his face staunch with conviction and confidence. "You know I can find out where you are, whenever I want." Ike said sedately with slight derision in his tone.

Theo nodded ignorantly. Let Ike find me, he thought to himself. He didn't care anymore. He was going to get Michael and Charlie out of there, once and for all. He didn't know how, but he would plan it tonight. He would involve Vector if he could, perhaps he would help them. He pushed the door open and Ike laughed.

"What's so funny?" Theo spat.

"You." Ike mocked. "You have no idea what'll happen to your precious little brothers if you cross me again."

Theo stared at Ike, who stared back with a slightly humoured expression.

"Yeah. I got this guy who works for me, right? He likes to use this rusty knife he's had for years." Ike said while making cutting swings with his arm. "I could let him have Michael."

Theo felt sick at Ike's words.

"Then I have me a guy who's a real sucker for hammers. He likes to start with the fingers." Ike laughed hoarsely. "I could always introduce him to Charlie, I reckon he'd love the little guy."

Ike sat at his desk watching Theo reeling from the implications of what Ike had just said. He drank it all in, like it was an amusing sitcom for his own enjoyment.

"Remember that when you sleep at night, little guy." Ike finished, before turning his attention back to the TV, taking a very satisfied drag from his cigar and chuckling at the comedy again.

Theo shut the door quietly and walked a few steps to the stairs. He felt his legs give out as he reached their floor.

He sunk to the floor and cried. He cried in anger and despair. Anger that they had been abandoned by their father and left in this dismal place. Anger that his two brothers, whom he loved more than anything in the world were with him and having to live in such a horrible existence. He wished they could be spared this life and he live it in their place. He cried that no one ever wanted to help them in the street, no matter who they asked. They were like vermin. He cried that a man so heartless as Ikes would threaten such horrible suffering on Michael and Charlie simply to keep Theo in line. Then his crying turned to sadness. He missed his mother dearly. He wanted to feel the warmth of her breast when she would hold him tightly against it to soothe him if he couldn't sleep. He wanted to hear her beautiful humming as she would to reassure him when he woke up from a nightmare or when their dad came home angry and shouting and woke him up from his sleep. He wanted her to tell him everything would be ok, and that this was all going to end soon and Theo would live a normal childhood again, with friends and a decent chance at a future.

He cried and hit the floor with his fists in grief, he breathed through his teeth and took out his frustrations, his fists throbbed with pain as he pounded the floor, eventually loosing his strength he laid on the floor and began to think while a puddle of tears formed beneath his face. He vowed that despite Ike's threats he would never let anything happen to his brothers. He promised would kill Ike before anything happened to Mike or Charlie, and that was a promise he intended to honour.

Suddenly, Theo felt a soft tap on his shoulder. He looked up bleary eyed and his face streaming with tears and making the film of dirt on his face crusty. It was his little brother Charlie.

"You okay Theo?" he asked sweetly. "Why are you crying?"

Theo smiled at his youngest brother, who returned the smile warmly.

"Nothing little bro." Theo sniffled while pulling himself up. "Just missing mom is all."

Charlie smiled sadly and suddenly grabbed his brother's hand. He excitedly led Theo towards their room. "Michael snuck some doughnuts out of Ike's office. Come see! They have jam ones!"

Theo smiled to himself as he saw Michael had built a small fort out of the remains of the sofa that had once adorned this old apartment block, and had placed the doughnuts inside as treasure.

At least their innocence was not lost, he thought to himself. There was at least that.

**.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**.**

**I've started college just recently, doing a media studies course. Hopefully I'll be an animator and a creative storyboard artist in the next few years, plus I want to be a freelance photographer as a side business/project so this course was perfect. It's been a lot of fun, but it's eaten away at my free time. The media course also includes creative writing and script writing, so perhaps there'll be some improvements to the writing in my stories in the near future. If you notice it, let me know!**

**Hopefully you are enjoying the story still! As always I'll be grateful for any reviews, they help me know that people are reading and enjoying it. If no one reads the story or doesn't enjoy it, why bother writing it eh? ^_^**


	9. Chapter 8: Engineering

**Boys Will Be Boys**

**Chapter 8**

If there was anything Theo was able to do for his brothers, today would be the day he would do it, or at least get the ball rolling. Given that Ike had agreed to allow him to spend time observing Vector without having to return to Ike's "base of operations" regularly, Theo realised he could make plans without being caught. This thought occurred to him mid dream and it snapped him into consciousness, making him fully alert. He blinked and took in the room from his comfortable mass of covers.

His hair was matted and his eyes bleary and he glanced around the room, his brain lagged a little and it was taking a while to adjust to waking up so suddenly, but his single-minded compulsion to seize the day for his two brothers overshadowed his brain's lagging. He yawned deeply and sat up rubbing his eyes. Sunlight crept through the boards nailed to the window and he checked his watch, which read 10.30 am. Theo frowned a little at the little watch as though he blamed it, he realised it was a lot later than usual for the boys. He gave a strained and loud yawn, and Theo yanked the covers off of himself and he clambered off of the mattress.

Theo slept in the living room/kitchen-diner of the apartment they were given to stay in. It was a single bedroom apartment, and the bedroom was too small to house all 3 of them so Theo contented to live in the living room. He was quite happy, it gave him peace and quiet and it gave his two younger brothers a decent space to play together if they wanted to.

Theo could hear movement in the other rooms that surrounded theirs, the noise no doubt caused by some of Ike's cronies or "employees" going about their daily routines.

Theo and his brothers had usually left for their days errands way before this time of day, so being in the building at this time of day was a relatively new experience for Theo. Ike had decided that if they left early in the morning, it looked like they were walking to school and would not be caught by a truant officer. It was the first time Theo had really heard the building "alive" with people doing their work. Theo did not know exactly what they did, but he knew it was wrong and probably illegal, but he didn't dare to pry. Hearing the noise of the building made him feel uneasy for some reason.

The only other time Theo felt uneasy was the first day they were left here by their "father". Their father had left them here under the care of Ike, and were given a promise that he would return in a few days to collect them. Theo sat there dismally as he realised this was months ago, and he felt the horrible emptiness of abandonment. Their father never returned, and probably never will. They were cast aside like trash and left to rot in this place. Their father often called the boys a chore to be around, effort to look after and more irritating than flies. What confused Theo more than anything though, was why their father knew a man like Ike, and why Ike seemed so eager to take them in when their father left them there. It wasn't a friendly welcome, if anything Ike seemed most sinister when he graciously accepted the task of looking after them for a few weeks as a favour to their father. Theo could never figure this out. It racked his brain thinking about it, since it didn't add up at all. He had questions, but Ike was not the man who would answer them.

As Theo sat there pondering, he heard the bedroom door open and Michael shuffled out of the room still in his underwear. He sullenly and blearily looked at Theo, and with his usually blunt manner, nodded in a form of greeting. Michael turned his head back forward without a word, scraped his feet to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him aggressively.

Charlie followed straight after just after Michael and he smiled at Theo warmly. Such a stark difference between them, Theo noted to himself with a droll smile. Charlie, ever the upbeat one, was bubbly and cheerful even after literally waking up and, Michael being Michael, was the total opposite; a moody and easily irritated boy. If Theo could find a word to describe the middle brother, it would be gruff. That described Michael perfectly.

"Hey Theo." Charlie chirped. He had already dressed himself, but he was holding his shoes by their laces in his hands. He held them out to Theo in a plea, no, more like a demand, for assistance.

Theo was still in his boxer shorts and his clothes were neatly laid on a dirty and rotting wooden dining chair just next to the mattress he slept on. He pulled on his t-shirt and jeans and gave a deep sigh. A few thoughts crossed Theo's mind as he caught his brother's beseeching glance. How exactly _was _Theo going to help rid his brothers of the life they were currently living? Each time he came up with a solid plan, he promptly came up with several ways they would almost certainly fail. It all seemed to boil down to Ike and his malicious threats. Theo didn't really know if Vector would ever protect them should Ike decide to make good on his promise, he didn't even think Vector could look after himself, so any risk Theo took to start a new life for his brothers would be an extreme risk he felt he could not take. He then chastised himself for thinking Vector could be their protector, they didn't even know each other. Why was Theo investing such hope in a man he hardly knew? He looked up to the dank, scum encrusted ceiling in a brief moment of despair.

He looked down at his brother's face; Charlie's eyes were so innocent and full of hope and happiness, despite the predicament they were in. Theo felt his heart break a little, for he knew there would come a time when Charlie would, if they carried on living the way they were, lose hope. A lot like Michael had. Theo felt another notch in his chest at the thought of Michael's hopeless cynicism, such a young kid shouldn't be that way.

Charlie frowned at Theo. Charlie knew Theo was thinking again, he had the telltale stoic-but-sad expression on his features. Charlie gave a little stamp on the floor to get his eldest brother's attention.

"Hey, can you help me tie my laces please?" Charlie asked after Theo gave a little jolt, ostensibly coming out of his daydream into awareness of his surroundings again. Charlie flopped to the floor and laid his legs out flat for Theo and he looked at his older brother expectantly. Theo smiled and nodded and crouched on the floor next to Charlie.

"You're five years old and you still can't get your shoes on." Theo playfully jibed. Charlie frowned and huffed lightly at Theo for daring to mention his age. Theo chuckled while he slid a shoe onto Charlie's left foot.

"It's too hard." Charlie protested. "The laces are annoying and Michael ties them too tight and mom used to tell me this rhyme to tie them up but I forgot it, so I can't do them."

Theo's smile briefly wavered at Charlie mentioning their mother.

"There." Theo said after he finished his brotherly task. Charlie looked at his feet and gave them a wiggle to test how tight the laces were. Satisfied, he nodded with a smile and thanked Theo, who ruffled his little brothers hair affectionately in return.

"We are going to see that man in… that weird coloured suit!" Charlie screeched playfully. The toilet flushed, and Michael had just appeared appeared.

"You mean orange?" He said as he dragged himself into the room. He was dressed in his usual garb, a green hoodie with dirty-grey tracksuit bottoms and red trainers smothered in different types of muck and grime.

"Yeah that's it." Charlie grinned. Michael shared a look with Theo and shook his head dismally. Theo laughed endearingly at his two brothers, which prompted a questioning glare from Michael.

"Oh, it's just you two make me laugh." Theo nonchalantly waved away at his younger brother's inquiry. That only made Michael more curious at to what his brother was getting at, but Theo chose to ignore it.

"So… when are we going?" Michael asked Theo as they both, in almost perfect unison, put their shoes on.

"Right now." Theo answered flatly.

Charlie giddily shook his fists in excitement and beamed, his eyes twinkled with excitement .

Today was a day they could look forward to, Theo decided to himself silently. Start as you mean to go on, he remembered his mother used to say to him. She would often say that when Theo was feeling depressed for whatever reason; often Theo would think she was being a typical mother telling her child silly phrases that sounded like they had meaning when they didn't, so he would just ignore them. It wasn't until the last few days Theo understood a lot of the advice or encouragement she gave him, despite often being metaphorical or sprinkled with poetry, was true. Theo decided that finally, today would be a day he would take her advice.

"I can't wait." Charlie beamed with glee. Theo nodded and smiled to himself.

"Neither can I." he replied as he shut their bedroom door behind them.

**xxxxx**

Vector had fallen asleep in a rather awkward position, and his body would definitely reward him with aches and pains as punishment. He was slouched over the strange device he had been working on and was, oddly, half standing up while snoring loudly. The room echoed with it; it sounded almost like a cinema playing snoring over the surround sound speakers and you were right in the centre of the performance.

Vector moved a little in his sleep and as a result he fell off the device completely. He landed on the floor with a thud and he woke up harshly.

"Wha- what no don't!" he said with a panic and scrambled off of the floor as if he was being attacked. He came back to reality and realised he was in his room, awake and not being attacked by giant wolves as he was in his dream.

"Huh." He said as his eyes adjusted to the surroundings. "I'm not in my bed."

Vector sat in the floor for a few minutes and glances around his room at each of the creations he had been working on. There was far less clutter now, save for a pile of empty boxes in the corner and the occasional tool or toolbox left lying around, but what was more noticeable was how over the last few days there was less scraps and assortments of random machine parts, and more almost complete items in their place. It was evident Vector had been working hard creating his creations.

Each device was still quite crude looking and it was questionable if they even worked, but no one would deny that the devices looks complicated and it took a genius to craft them. Vector knew what each device was supposed to do, but didn't know whether it would do it. And if it didn't do what it was designed to, what would it do instead? Questions needed answers; today would be the day to discover those answers. Vector's body quivered with excitement, it had been so long since he had felt the thrill of discovery, most of his weapon ideas were drawn up on paper, sent to his father, and days later a box would arrive at his door with the finished article inside, thanks to the work of his father's subsidiary manufacturing companies.

Vector has a sizable basement with which to test the machines in, so he surveyed which items he was going to use first. Unfortunately though, he would not be able to move them on his own, so to counter this had been designing a series of robotic arms and tunnels for Evelyn to help him move them around. Neither of them were sure if these robotic arms would work either. So, if by the work of intelligent design, or perhaps fate, the robotic arms were to be tested first.

A long day of conundrums and throbbing headaches was ahead for Vector, he knew that much was certain. If he knew 3 boys were travelling to his house at this exact moment in time…

"Evelyn." He said suddenly and authoritatively.

"Yes?" she asked flatly, as if put upon.

"I want you to deactivate so I can install the robotic drives into your programming."

"Yes, OK. Just don't take too long about it," she moaned, her voice an odd sort of robotic whiney-complaint tone, "I hate being deactivated for too long."

Vector shook off her complaints indifferently and he waited for the red lights in the walls that were her viewing cameras to switch off, a sign she was deactivated and ready for calibrations.

When they did he set to work and proceeded to the room where Eve's computer core was stored picking up a large and complicated looking circuit board on the way.

**xxxxx**

The three boys wandered around in the suburban streets aimlessly, Theo was trying to get his bearings. Behind him was the downtown city skyline, ahead of them was a continuous maze of roads, paths and cookie cutter houses. The boys often navigated using landmarks, downtown it was simple to work out where you were by looking at a building and using it as a compass of sorts, however in a place like this it was easy to get lost because everything looked the same.

"Remind me never to move to the suburbs." Theo muttered to himself. Michael nodded in agreement, Charlie was himself lost to awe at the sights of the birds and the people going about their early morning routines and the pretty flower beds that lined the houses. Each house, while looking the same on the outside, had minute differences to them that betrayed a little of the personality of the family that lived inside. Some gardens were well kept and clean, others were a little more haggard, while occasionally Charlie would spot a house that looked haunted. One big brown house they passed looked very scary, and the big silver machine that parked outside it reminded him of a bug. Charlie took in the sights and sounds with deep interest, even though he had been down these streets before, there was always something new to discover, new flowers that had grown in the gardens, shiny new cars sitting proudly on people's driveways, new fences, new front doors, new everything. Charlie enjoyed looking for those types of changes.

Luckily for Theo, after a few moments of aimless meandering, Charlie pointed out a church they had walked past days before and with a notable building to go by, Theo now had his sense of direction back. Theo looked around for a road sign and spotted it. "This way."

After a few minutes of silence, Theo heard Michael say something. He had fallen behind as he usually did.

"What's that mister?" he asked a man who was cutting the hedges lining a particularly large house. Michael was specifically pointing to a badge he was wearing. The badge was a name tag, signalling, to an adult at least, that the man was a paid gardener. Michael however, with his grandiose imagination, thought it could be a laser emitter or a bullet shield protecting his heart. He wanted to know for sure, the man was working with dangerous bladed tools so perhaps he was a wanted man. Many adults react defensively when approached by a strange child, but this man took that to a new level. He backed away from Michael as if he was a rabid animal intent on tearing him apart, or so it looked by his horrified expression.

Michael frowned. He kicked the fence that lined the man's garden in retaliation for being looked at with such horror. Michael took offence quite easily.

"Why you little-!" the man bellowed as he saw a couple of pieces of his fence land on the floor. He lunged for Michael who had begun to run away, laughing as he did. Michael could hear the guy shouting behind him.

"Not so quiet now eh mister?" Michael shouted with a hearty laugh as he dashed away from the man. He was shouting nonsensically about "kids these days" or something along those lines, Michael wasn't really listening, it was enough for his twisted sense of humour that the man was angry at all, what he had to say didn't matter.

"People in this town are crazy." Michael chuckled as he caught up to Theo and Charlie. Theo shook his head; he didn't even want to know.

The three boys rounded a corner, and, just ahead of them, was the bulbous ice white house of the man who has a strong affinity with orange clothing. The man they were looking for. The man, Theo hoped, would solve all their problems.

Charlie decided to sit on the path with his knees up to his chest while he waited for Theo or Michael to say something, and he fiddled with his laces. Theo and Michael shared awkward glances as they looked up to the building.

"He has weird taste." Theo muttered while Michael glanced wryly at his brother's statement of the obvious.

"He wears orange warm up clothes in summer for Pete's sake." Michael grumbled. "Definitely a nerd, with those glasses." He added harshly.

Theo hummed in understanding. "Why the guy likes putting big orange Vs all over the place, I don't know." Theo noted the large V etched into the apparent front door of his house. He remembered Vectors watch and clothing; a stylised V was on pretty much every item of clothing or jewellery Vector wore, and now it was on his front door, too.

"So… are we going in or what?" Michael asked after a few more moments of silence. Theo looked around at the damage wearily for a second, wondering what exactly might have caused such a large amount of damage.

Theo nodded and walked ahead. "Wait there." He said while waving at Michael to stop following him. He was still a little wary since the house was unlike anything he had ever seen, and Vector had self-cleaning fabric that he invented himself, so Theo wondered what secrets this house held that might cause harm to him or his brothers.

Charlie looked up at Mike as they watched Theo almost tiptoe slowly to the house.

"What is Theo doing, Michael?" Charlie asked, intrigued at his eldest brother's sneaking.

"I have… no idea." Michael said plainly.

"Why is he tiptoeing? Is he going to make someone jump?"

Michael glanced at Charlie with a screwed up expression. "Why would he be making someone jump?" Michael asked with puzzlement.

"You tiptoe when you make people jump." Charlie pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess." Michael was satisfied with Charlie's logic. "But… no he isn't making anyone jump. Maybe he wants to play ninja or something."

Charlie cooed with interest at the thought of playing ninja.

He sighed and mumbled something unintelligible when Theo stopped dead in his tracks, looking like a humorously posed statue and looking up at the roof of the ice white oval shaped building. Unbeknownst to them, Theo had heard whirring of machinery and the grinding of mechanisms and the small vibrations of movement made him stop dead in his tracks. Seemingly out of nowhere, the tarpaulin on the roof tore open with a loud ripping sound and a huge array of what looked like guns, girders and even a gigantic buzz saw erected from the roof. Each weapon oriented themselves towards Theo menacingly. Theo gritted his teeth, forcing himself to remain perfectly frozen in place. Charlie made motions to run to Theo, but Michael held him back protectively.

Michael and Charlie gasped in astonishment as the sudden turn of events before them. Theo glanced at his body as it became illuminated by several laser pointers coming from most of the weapons. Theo desperately tried to hold himself still despite standing on one leg, the other stretched out behind him. He looked like he was frozen in a ballet pose.

A clanking noise came from inside the house, and the three children watched silently as the front door opened.

He had a strange white gun on him that had a squidgy and gooey looking creature poking out of the end of it. "Who are ya and whadya-!" he shouted before he stopped in his tracks when he noticed the statue-like Theo looking at him with a shocked expression, his eyes wide with alarm and confusion. Vector mimicked Theo's confounded expression.

"What?" Vector guffawed before lowering his gun. His face was black and his hair was mottled and out of its usual bowl shape. His trademark orange garb was blackened with soot, and his forehead glistened with sweat. Vector and Theo stared at each other for a moment, both unmoving and unreadable.

Charlie and Michael watched the scene from their spot with confusion and amusement, respectively. Michael noticed the sun glint off of Vector's goggles as he looked over at Michael and Charlie, then back to Theo.

"Oh…" Vector muttered. "Why… what…" he couldn't manage to construct a proper sentence, his mind was completely confuddled and a million thoughts blazed through it, trying to construct a proper sentence wasn't possible in his current, bewildered state. Vector looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights, except the headlights were strange children.

After a few moments of further silence, Theo decided to relax from his pose, anf he glanced up at the gigantic buzzsaw on the roof. He frowned and looked at Vector angrily.

"Who the heck has a giant buzz saw in their roof?" Theo exclaimed.

Vector snapped out of his stupor. "Oh that?" he answered carefully. "That's just there for effect. Uh… the guns aren't loaded either. That's why I ran out here with my squid launcher."

Mike and Charlie quietly observed the scene. "Vector is weird." Charlie interjected, prompting a snigger from Michael.

"Yeah, he is." Mike agreed.

Theo squinted at the object Vector held in his hands, and realised the shiny thing poking out of one end was the head of a squid.

"Umm… why do you have a squid poking out of that…" Theo pondered for a second as if what he was about to finish saying was the most ridiculous thing ever, "… that gun?"

"To shoot squids at people, duh." Vector answered as if it was obvious.

"Huh…" Theo sighed hopelessly at what he was just told. He shook his head to forget that this apparently clever man had basically told him he had designed a gun to shoot squids at people. "You know they can't breathe out of water, right?" Theo asked tentatively, wondering if this omission was deliberate or not.

"Yeah, if the squid dies they can't interrogate it and it wont tell them where I live."

Theo stared blankly at Vector and sighed deeply. He and rubbed his forehead soothingly, his mind aching from the glaring fails of logic Vector has exhibited in just a couple of short moments. Theo shook his head to clear his mind of the pain, and he waved over to his brothers to approach. Theo silently made his way into the house.

"Uh… wait don't-" Vector spluttered and flailed. Theo vanished into the shadows of the hall. Vector scratched his head in bewilderment.

Just seconds later after Vector sighed deeply at his predicament, Michael and Charlie walked past him casually. Vector silently looked at the two kids walk past, even more dejection flooded his mind.

"What the heck is going on?" Vector asked himself.

**xxxxx**

Upon entering the house, the three boys found their assaulted eyes assaulted by intense, bright light. The inside of the house was the same shimmering snow-white as the outside, but the brightness was amplified by white lights that scattered the house. The boys silently walked around, taking every detail in, each doorway, corner, wall switch, you name it, they took note of it. Each detail was catalogued and stored it into a memory bank that all children, especially boys, have; a memory bank dedicated to the age-old art of mischief. Michael was a self-purported mischief expert, a fact that Theo and Charlie would not disagree with, and a fact Vector would no doubt discover at some point. The house was awe inspiring to say the least, no less because of the huge fish tank that contained a great white shark, also because of the sheer size of the place. The house's interior space was so vast, the bulbous outer dome did not seem to correlate with the size of the interior at all. Theo had tried to make sense of it, but he gave up and just assumed more technological wizardry was at work here, as there seemed to be everywhere they looked.

As the boys continued their meanderings, Theo found himself thinking about all the possible little happenings that would be their daily lives for the next… however long it would take them to get what they needed. How would Vector and the three of them get along? Would he be hospitable? Theo shook his head at that point, as another thought crept into Theo's already jumbled mass of imaginings. What exactly _were _they looking for? All the doors were locked, apart from one that led to the kitchen, so Theo hadn't seen anything they could make use of, and nothing stood out that Theo thought would be of use to Ike.

The boys silently completed their wanderings and they made their way back to the kitchen, settling down at the breakfast table.

"So, cool house huh?" Michael opened up the dialogue with an indifferent tone.

"Yeah, it's neat." Charlie agreed. "I like the fish."

"You would."

"I would so too."

"Not now guys." Theo sighed. He furrowed his brow and he tried to think. The house was full of technological marvel, that much was true, but it was built _into _the house, it wasn't anything they could steal. He began to have second thoughts about the whole thing. Luckily for him, Vector skulked into the kitchen, eyeing them warily.

"You have a nice house." Michael said, a suddenly cheery tone just discernible over the usual huskiness that was his patter.

"Thanks." Vector shrugged. "Though I don't know why you are here, what you want, or why you feel the need to sit at my table."

Vector fumbled around in his kitchen cupboards looking for some food, a cold silence filling the room.

"Well, we want to work for you." Theo announced. The drink Vector had just started to sip was spurted out with a choked cough, and he gasped for breath while looking at Theo with desperate eyes. "For money." Theo added coolly, deliberately timing his extra response for maximum impact.

"What?" Vector asked with bewilderment. "I don't have anything for you to do."

"Sure you do." Michael said with expression. "Maybe we could spy on that girl again?" Michael gave a toothy, innocent grin. Vector found himself seeing a similar expression on the older one's face too, a "butter wouldn't melt" smile, punctuated with glittery eyes and rosy cheeks.

"No and no." Vector said finally. "Please go away, I'm very busy building stuff." He turned his attention back to the cupboards after waving them off with a flick of his wrist. Michael gave Theo a dejected scowl, though he didn't acknowledge his younger brother, as his curiosity was piqued. "What is he building?" Theo thought to himself.

"Let us help. We can get stuff, hold stuff, pass you stuff, anything. We help out our…" Theo paused, wondering what he could call Ike without raising any alarm until he settled on a good noun, "uncle, with stuff all the time."

"No." Vector said without turning around.

"What are you building?" Michael asked.

"Stuff." Vector returned flatly.

"What sort of stuff?" Charlie put in.

"Super cool stuff you wouldn't understand." Vector felt his patience dwindling.

"Oh… I get it, he's making girly dolls." Michael mocked with a stifled chuckle.

"I'm NOT building dolls."

"Yeah, sure mister. Whatever you say."

"Argh! Fine! I'll show you the awesome stuff I'm building if you promise to get out!" Vector flared, heavily slamming his dainty hands on the countertop.

The three boys shared a small grin of victory between them. Theo secretly thanked his brother for being the mischievous kid he was, he knew exactly how to manipulate adults, and it had gotten them out of tight spots many times. It had also helped them get exactly what they wanted, as it had done in this case. Michael nodded with satisfaction.

**xxxxx**

Vector stopped just outside his bedroom door. He turned ominously to the three boys who had silently followed him there, he peered down at them just underneath his glasses, attempting to look menacing.

"Don't. Touch. A thing." Vector said heavily. He waved his hand in front of a small green square of light that glowed just behind the wall surface, it blinked twice and a slight hiss could be heard as the door couplings disengaged. The door opened starkly, a hot air and an oily odour washed over the four of them. Vector stepped into the room and the 3 boys followed.

"OK. This is my bedroom." Vector said, trying to sound cool. "All this stuff is gonna help me become the best villain ever, again."

He gestured to certain objects in the room. Theo, Michael, and Charlie glanced around the room, each one of them failing to understand what they were being showed.

"What stuff?" Charlie asked inquisitively, his big eyes curiously boring into Vector, who regarded the child with mild contempt.

"All those devices." He gestured again, this time with a bit more force and vigour, as though the rapid, aggressive movements would be a better way to communicate with a confused child.

"You mean…" Michael began with his fingers on his chin, "all the junk?"

Theo nodded in agreement.

"Junk?" Vector guffawed. He took a step back, the hurt on his face was apparent. "I spent days building these, they are works of engineering mastery. Each machine crafted by skilled artisan's hands, each one has a specific design and purpose, each one will bring me dominance!" Vector threw his clenched fist into the air, a grimace of evil purpose contorting his facial features. Theo raised his eyebrow at Vector's pose, he looked like those old and flamboyant super villains he saw on his Saturday morning cartoons. In other words, he looked ridiculous.

"Engi-what-now?" Michael asked flatly, clearly not interested in Vector's proud ramblings. "They look like the old cars and machines at the scrap yard." Michael kicked one lightly, a quiet metal clang rang out in response.

Vector relaxed his pose back to normal. "Well," he said, "they kinda are. I stole a lot of it years ago. But these machines have very different technologies in them. They do some clever stuff." Vector walked over to the twisted and incongruous mass of metal pipes and wires, he knelt down next to Michael, who backed away from Vector slightly. Vector's glasses glinted. "Let me show you." He said with a dark, toothy smile stretching across his face.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Hello readers! Sincere apologies for taking so long to add another chapter, it's been rough these past few months. I've had a lot going on with college and work, so I've had hardly ANY free time for myself lately, and finding the energy to sit down and write essays was hard enough, finding any creative energy and imagination to write a fanfiction was nigh on impossible. I'd sit down to write and I'd type no more than 10-15 words before I couldn't write any more.**

**This chapter was a little shorter than I hoped, but the next chapter will be a little longer to make up for it. I've also got two other fanfictions running along side this one, which I will update relatively soon, so updates to BWBB may be a little sporadic (as if they haven't been already)! Thank you for your patience, I hope the story was worth the wait, and will continue to be worth it. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays, by the way!**


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